“I don't want to have a meaningless meeting,” Donald Trump told reporters at the White House about the Budapest summit with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty Images
The US president does not want to “waste time”, so the summit in Budapest with the participation of Trump and Putin will not take place. Why was the second meeting after Alaska canceled – because of Russia's uncompromising position, risks for Putin himself or the failure of Trump's peace strategy? The main points from the materials of the FT, WSJ and Politico
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US President Donald Trump has announced the cancellation of a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. He added that the meeting “would be pointless.” “I don’t want to have a pointless meeting. I don’t want to waste time until I see what happens next,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The US administration has concluded that Russia continues to pursue its territorial ambitions, which make any peace agreement with Ukraine impossible, writes WSJ.
No security guarantees for Putin
The summit in the Hungarian capital was to be the leaders' second meeting after talks in Alaska in August that failed to yield any breakthrough. At that time, Trump said that Putin “wanted peace,” even as Russia continued to bomb Ukrainian cities and refused to engage in direct talks with Ukraine, Politico reports.
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The decision to cancel the summit was made after a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stated that Moscow's position “remains unchanged” – a peace agreement must precede a ceasefire, the FT adds.
The planned meeting in Budapest had initially raised concerns among US allies. Lavrov doubted whether Putin would be able to come to Europe at all, given the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant. While Hungary has assured Putin that it will guarantee his safe entry and return to Moscow, questions remained about how he would avoid arrest during his trip to the heart of the EU, the FT writes.
Polish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Tuesday, October 21, on Polish radio that he could not guarantee that Putin's plane would be allowed through Polish airspace without interference.
“We cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court will not decide to force the plane carrying Putin to land in order to transfer the suspect to The Hague,” Sikorski said.
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski publicly stated that he could not guarantee the unhindered passage of Vladimir Putin's plane through Polish airspace. Photo Getty Images
The theory of the last interlocutor
After the Alaska summit, Trump was left without any concessions from the Kremlin. His desire to act as a peacemaker did not change the position of Russia, which continues to insist on control over all of Donbas, which it has not been able to fully seize during three years of fighting, within the framework of any agreement. This position was the reason for Washington's decision to suspend preparations for a new meeting, the WSJ adds.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that further negotiations will not yield results until Russia abandons its maximalist demands.
Last week, the US president hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. The meeting, according to FT sources, turned into a “raised argument” during which Trump showed no emotion.
He has rejected a request to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles to strike Russian territory, saying “this could mean escalation.” Instead, he has called on Ukraine to “freeze the conflict” on the current front lines — a proposal that Zelensky and European partners reject.
The US president had hoped for signs of genuine policy change from Russia to justify resuming his personal diplomacy with Putin. But so far, Trump's efforts on Ukraine have accomplished only one thing – refute his own dubious claims that Putin wants peace, CNN writes.
This impasse suits Putin, who shows no desire to stop fighting and could use the extra time to wage a war of attrition to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible before any peace talks begin, CNN adds.
Donald Trump refused to give Volodymyr Zelenskyy the transfer of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for strikes on Russian territory Photo Getty Images
Coalition of the willing
In European capitals, Trump’s new diplomatic maneuvers have caused consternation. One EU official, quoted by Politico, called the American president’s behavior “a reminder of the last interlocutor theory” – Trump’s tendency to agree with the position of the person he spoke to last. After his last phone call with Putin, Trump announced “great progress” in peace talks, but their meeting was canceled five days later.
Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East – the peace deal between Israel and Hamas – has fueled his confidence in his own peacemaking skills. This success, Politico writes, has become a catalyst for the president’s attempt to extend his “deal” formula to Ukraine. But with renewed violence in Gaza and Russia refusing to change its demands, Trump has faced limited opportunities for a new diplomatic breakthrough.
European leaders, meanwhile, are preparing for a new coordination of actions with Washington. “I expect visits of European leaders to Washington in the coming days and close coordination,” Politico quotes an anonymous EU official. After the cancellation of the summit in Budapest, the continent seeks to prevent a “deal at the expense of Ukraine” and keep the US in a common front in support of Kyiv.
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Category World Date October 17 “Another Almost Pointless Meeting.” What Could Trump and Putin Be Negotiating in Budapest? Analysis by Bloomberg, FT and WSJ
Category World Date October 17 “Trump wants to change the status quo.” While all eyes are on the Tomahawks, Trump’s track with China may be key for Ukraine. Forbes Ukraine Analysis
Category World Date September 25 The US is (not) withdrawing from the peace process. How do diplomats in Kyiv and Europe interpret Donald Trump's new statements regarding the war in Ukraine? Analysis Forbes Ukraine
