Behind the Scenes of Trump-Putin Meeting Cancellation in Budapest
According to the English section of webangah News Agency,citing Mehr News Agency and Al-Araby Al-Jadeed,Western outlets have investigated the background of the canceled meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The British financial Times reported on Friday that the United States called off this meeting, which was scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary’s capital, after Russia sent a note to Washington insisting on its demands related to Ukraine. The cancellation followed a tense phone conversation between the Russian and U.S. foreign ministers.
The Financial Times quoted three sources saying that one day after Trump and Putin agreed over a phone call to meet in Budapest and discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to Washington stressing its demands and outlining what it sees as root causes of the conflict: Ukraine relinquishing territory, significantly reducing its armed forces, and guaranteeing it will not join NATO.
Another source revealed that Washington canceled Trump’s meeting with Putin following a phone call between Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Marco Rubio.
After this call, Rubio informed Trump that Moscow was not ready for negotiations.
A separate source indicated this position deeply displeased Trump.
U.S. officials were also reportedly unsettled by Lavrov’s description of Ukraine as being under Nazi control.
