Kremlin, White House Align: No Trump-Putin Summit Imminent

In a rare moment of alignment, both the Kremlin and the White House administration clarified Tuesday that no summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is imminent.
A Kremlin spokesperson stated there is “no precise timeframe” for a meeting. This was followed by a US official, speaking anonymously, who said there are “no plans” for a meeting in the “immediate future.”
These statements were necessary after President Trump, following a call with Putin last Thursday, announced a summit in Budapest “within two weeks.”
The president’s announcement did lead to a “productive” call on Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
However, the US official stated that no further in-person meeting between the diplomats was required. This latest “abrupt shift” from Trump comes after he hosted Putin in Alaska in August, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.