‘There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,’ a White House official said.
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has called off a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a White House official told The Epoch Times. The decision followed a phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had been expected to meet this week to prepare for a possible summit.
“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call,“ a White House official said in a statement. ”Therefore, an additional-in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”
Rubio has canceled a meeting with Lavrov, which was scheduled to take place on Oct. 22 in Europe, a source familiar with the plans told The Epoch Times.
On Oct. 16, Trump said he spoke by phone with Putin and agreed to meet with him in Budapest, Hungary, with the aim of ending the war in Ukraine. Trump described the conversation as “very productive” in a Truth Social post.
“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end,” Trump wrote.
Trump later told reporters that the meeting with Putin could take place within “two weeks.” The two leaders met in Alaska in August, but that summit failed to produce a breakthrough for peace.
Trump had planned to meet with Putin following his trip to Asia this week, the source told The Epoch Times.
By Emel Akan
