The United States canceled a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest after Moscow reiterated sweeping demands on Ukraine, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Trump and Putin had agreed earlier in October to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss ways to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year invasion.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry reportedly sent a memo to Washington days later repeating its conditions that Ukraine cede territory, reduce its armed forces and vow never to join NATO.
The summit was then canceled after a call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio, who reportedly told Trump that Moscow was “showing no willingness to negotiate.” In a YouTube interview Sunday, Lavrov accused Trump of “radically” changing his position on peace in Ukraine following the August summit with Putin in Alaska.
“[Trump] was not impressed with their position,” FT quoted one person familiar with the discussions as saying.
They added that Trump was still willing to meet his Russian counterparts “when and where he thinks there can be progress.”
But Trump was reportedly “annoyed” by Putin boasting about Russia’s battlefield gains near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk and the Oskil river during their Oct. 16 call, FT reported.
Moscow has demanded control of the remaining Donetsk region territories as a precondition for peace talks, a demand Kyiv has rejected.
The Kremlin, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
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