The Kremlin has said that it is currently unclear when a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine will take place.
Neither Putin nor Trump have named an exact date for their meeting, it requires serious preparation and time, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on 21 October.
He added that “difficult work” needs to be done before the upcoming summit.
“It may take time. That’s why, in fact, no exact dates were initially set,” Peskov said.
Asked whether Moscow had an understanding of a possible date for the summit, he said, “no, there is no understanding.”
After speaking with Putin on 16 October, Trump said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would meet this week ahead of a possible leaders’ summit in Budapest, which the US president said could take place within two weeks. Moscow has not given an exact timeline for the possible meeting.
Earlier today, CNN, citing a White House official. reported that the expected meeting between Rubio and Lavrov has been postponed for now and will not take place this week. One source said Rubio and Lavrov have different expectations about a possible end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded that the meeting was not postponed because it was not scheduled. “You cannot postpone something that was not agreed upon. What some Western sources wrote yesterday, we did not confirm. We had no close understanding about the timing and place of such a contact,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.