Trump Administration Walks Back President’s Putin Meeting Announcement

The Trump administration has officially walked back the president’s announcement regarding an imminent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with a US official stating Tuesday that no such encounter is planned for the immediate future. The reversal highlights ongoing tensions between Trump’s public statements and formal diplomatic processes.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, a call initially intended to arrange logistics for a presidential summit in Budapest. However, American officials have concluded that no further in-person meeting between the secretaries is necessary, and no near-term Trump-Putin gathering will occur.
The US official, who spoke anonymously, characterized the Rubio-Lavrov telephone discussion as “productive,” though the positive assessment did not result in any concrete plans for a presidential meeting. Russian officials have similarly declined to commit to specific timing, with the Kremlin announcing Tuesday that no “precise timeframe” exists for a Trump-Putin summit.
The confusion began last Thursday after a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that the American president portrayed as significant progress in bilateral relations. Trump’s interpretation led him to announce on social media that he would meet Putin within two weeks in Budapest, timing the declaration to coincide with his upcoming discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has undergone multiple sudden reversals, including the August decision to host Putin in Alaska for his first visit to Western territory since ordering the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Trump has repeatedly claimed his personal connection with Putin would enable him to end the war within a day of returning to office, he has recently admitted to experiencing frustrations with the Russian leader.