A Monday telephone conversation between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not lead to an immediate meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a US official announced Tuesday. The development represents a significant reversal from Trump’s recent announcement that he would meet Putin in Budapest within two weeks.
The Rubio-Lavrov call was originally intended to arrange logistics for a presidential summit, but American officials have concluded that no additional in-person diplomatic meetings are necessary at this time. This decision effectively postpones any potential Trump-Putin gathering indefinitely, despite Trump’s earlier optimistic statements about the state of US-Russia relations.
A US administration official, speaking anonymously, described the Monday phone exchange as “productive,” though no specific outcomes were detailed. The Kremlin has adopted a similar stance, with Russian officials stating Tuesday that there is no “precise timeframe” for organizing a summit between the two presidents.
The confusion surrounding summit plans originated from a Thursday telephone call between Trump and Putin, which the American president interpreted as significant diplomatic progress. Trump’s enthusiasm led him to quickly post on social media that he would meet Putin within two weeks in Budapest, timing the announcement to coincide with his planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regarding the potential provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Trump’s handling of relations with Putin has been characterized by sudden reversals, including his August decision to host Putin in Alaska, marking the Russian leader’s first visit to Western soil since launching the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Trump has repeatedly boasted about his ability to leverage personal chemistry with Putin to end the war quickly, he has recently admitted to experiencing frustrations in dealing with the Russian president.