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Lavrov and Rubio Expected to Meet Oct. 30 – FT

The White House / flickr; Russian Foreign Ministry

Lavrov and Rubio are expected to meet in Budapest on Oct. 30, an anonymous German official told the Financial Times.

They added that Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was expected to outline plans ahead of the summit, which could include a meeting between Trump and EU leaders. The plans have not yet been confirmed.

EU leaders are set to close ranks in support of Ukraine at a Brussels summit on Thursday, followed the next day by a “coalition of the willing” meeting of European leaders in London to discuss the next steps to help Kyiv.

According to FT, EU leaders also plan to agree on loaning 140 billion euros ($162.5 billion) from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine and approve new Russia sanctions during the Brussels summit.

On Tuesday, leaders including Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, threw their support behind Trump’s peace effort while reaffirming their red lines.

“We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,” the leaders, including EU chiefs Antonio Costa and Ursula von Der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as those of Italy, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Poland, said in a joint statement.

Macron said separately that Ukraine’s Western allies were ready to provide security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire, but that Kyiv alone would decide on any territorial negotiations.

Russia on Tuesday said that there was “no precise timeframe” for a summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Ukraine, dousing hopes for a swift preparatory meeting to finalize the talks.

“No precise timeframe was initially set here,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including from AFP, at a briefing on Tuesday.

Asked if the summit could be postponed, Peskov said: “It’s impossible to postpone something that hasn’t been set in stone, … Preparation is needed, serious preparation.”

CNN, citing a White House official, reported Tuesday that a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was “put on hold for the time being.” 

CNN, citing an anonymous source, reported that the pre-meeting was delayed due to divergent Russian and U.S. expectations about ending the war in Ukraine.

It said Rubio and Lavrov may speak again this week, but the U.S. diplomat is reportedly “not likely to recommend the Putin-Trump meeting move forward next week.”

The U.S. State Department described Monday’s call as a discussion of “next steps” and an opportunity for both sides to work toward a “durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war.”

The Kremlin called it a “constructive discussion” about “implementing the understandings” reached between Trump and Putin in Alaska in August.

Ryabkov said Moscow is continuing preparations for the summit. “We’re doing our homework,” he said, stressing that any such contact must be “not rushed.”

AFP contributed reporting.

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