The United States has canceled a planned summit in Budapest between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s tough stance on tough demands over Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The decision was made after a tense phone call between the two countries’ foreign ministers, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the FT report. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russian government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Plans for a summit in Budapest this month between Trump and Putin were postponed after Moscow stuck to its demands, including that Ukraine cede more territory as a condition for a ceasefire.
Trump has backed Ukraine’s call for an immediate ceasefire along current lines.
Days after Trump and Putin agreed to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a memo to Washington outlining its demands to address what Putin calls the “root causes” of his invasion, which include territorial concessions, a sharp reduction in Ukraine’s armed forces and guarantees that it would never join NATO.
The US then called off the summit after an invitation from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after which Rubio told Trump that Moscow was showing no willingness to negotiate, the FT report added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this month that while Ukraine was ready for peace talks, it would not first withdraw its troops from additional territory as Moscow had demanded.
