WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- A planned meeting in Hungary between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been postponed on Tuesday, with no new date set, according to U.S. and Russian officials.
Preparations for a possible meeting in Budapest, Hungary, were put on hold following what was described as a "constructive but inconclusive" phone conversation between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week, the officials said.
Following a phone conversation with Putin last week, Trump said he was ready to meet the Russian leader soon to seek a breakthrough in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, the U.S. president told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that he did not want to have "a wasted meeting."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the timing of a possible summit remains undecided, stressing that "serious preparation" would be required before any meeting could take place.
Despite the delay, Russia's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, said late Tuesday on his X account that "preparations continue" for a future summit, adding that the meeting had not been canceled.
The summit delay followed Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, where he ruled out a trilateral summit with Russia and Ukraine, citing deep tensions between Moscow and Kiev.
Trump and Putin met in the U.S. state of Alaska in August, but no deal was reached, and ceasefire negotiations remain deadlocked. ■