Preparations were underway for the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The purpose of their meeting was to try to stop the ongoing war in Ukraine. But this meeting was postponed for the time being, because Russia has rejected the proposal of immediately stopping the war i.e. ceasefire.
America A senior White House official said that “there are no plans for a meeting between Putin and Trump right now.” Although the phone conversation between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went “well”, they avoided a face-to-face meeting.
Last week, Trump had said that he would soon meet Putin in Hungary to discuss ending the war. But Putin is not ready for any compromise. Russia wants that ukraine Leave aside some more areas, only then the discussion on ceasefire can proceed.
US officials say that Russia recently sent a personal note to America, in which it again reiterated the same old demand that control of the entire Donbass region be given to Russia. This is against Trump’s proposal in which he had said that the war should stop where both the armies are currently standing.
Russia already occupies about 75 percent of Luhansk province and nearby Donetsk. European countries have told America that Trump should maintain pressure on Russia so that it agrees to immediately stop the war on the existing borders.
A few days ago, Trump met Putin on phone and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. He was hoping that the new meeting to be held in Hungary could find some solution. But now the preparatory meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, which was to be held in Budapest this week, has also been postponed.
Also read: Even if not Nobel, Trump got this award of ‘Peace Architect’
From the Russian side it was said that what is more important than this meeting is how to implement the things that were decided in the previous meeting in Alaska. He said a date for a new meeting had not yet been set and “serious preparations” would be required.
Many European countries say that Trump will not meet Putin until Russia bows down to some extent. One European diplomat said, “It seems Russia was demanding too much, so the US thought no deal could be made at this time.”
European countries are especially worried that Trump might meet Putin without making any concrete promises. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and the European Union issued a statement saying that they support Trump’s stance that “the fighting should stop immediately and negotiations should begin from within the existing borders.”
The Trump-Zelensky meeting held inside is said to be a bit tense. According to reports, Trump several times angrily pressured Zelensky to accept some Russian conditions. But Zelensky later said the meeting was successful because Trump publicly supported Ukraine’s position.
With inputs from news agency Reuters
—- End —-
