The timeline for a Budapest summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has evaporated, with officials from both nations confirming Tuesday that no immediate meeting is planned. The announcement directly contradicts Trump’s recent social media posts claiming he would meet the Russian leader within two weeks in the Hungarian capital.
Following a Monday telephone conversation between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, American officials have determined that no additional in-person ministerial meetings are necessary. The decision effectively shelves any immediate plans for a Trump-Putin summit, despite the president’s earlier optimistic pronouncements about bilateral relations.
The US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, characterized the Rubio-Lavrov phone call as “productive,” though the positive description did not translate into concrete summit planning. The Kremlin has adopted an identical position, with Russian officials stating Tuesday that there is no “precise timeframe” for organizing a Trump-Putin meeting.
The diplomatic confusion began last Thursday after a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that the American president initially portrayed as a breakthrough moment. Trump’s enthusiasm led him to announce on social media that he would meet Putin in Budapest within two weeks, timing the announcement to occur just before his planned discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has undergone multiple sudden reversals, including the controversial August decision to host Putin in Alaska for the Russian leader’s first visit to Western soil since launching the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Trump has repeatedly claimed his personal connection with Putin would enable him to end the war within a day of returning to office, he has recently admitted to experiencing frustrations with the Russian leader.