US officials have determined that no further meetings between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are required before a potential Trump-Putin summit, yet paradoxically, no immediate presidential meeting is planned either, a US official announced Tuesday. The announcement contradicts President Donald Trump’s recent social media posts about meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest within two weeks.
Following a Monday telephone conversation between the two foreign ministers that was characterized as “productive,” American officials concluded that diplomatic preparations have reached a point where additional ministerial consultations are unnecessary. However, this assessment has not translated into concrete plans for a presidential summit, leaving the timing of any Trump-Putin meeting uncertain.
The Kremlin has adopted a similar non-committal stance, with Russian officials stating Tuesday that there is no “precise timeframe” for organizing a meeting between Trump and Putin. The cautious messaging from both capitals contrasts with Trump’s earlier enthusiastic declarations about imminent bilateral talks.
The confusion surrounding potential summit timing began last Thursday after a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that the American president initially celebrated as progress. Trump’s optimism led him to announce on social media that he would meet Putin in Budapest within two weeks, an announcement timed just before his scheduled discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russian territory.
Trump’s approach to Putin has been marked by sudden policy reversals, including the August decision to welcome Putin to Alaska for the Russian leader’s first visit to Western soil since initiating the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Trump has repeatedly claimed his personal rapport with Putin would allow him to end the war within a day of returning to the White House, he has recently expressed frustrations in dealing with the Russian president.