What Happened to the Budapest Summit? Trump’s Plans Change Again

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In another abrupt policy shift, President Donald Trump’s plans for a Budapest summit with Vladimir Putin have evaporated. A US official confirmed Tuesday that “no plans” exist for such a meeting in the “immediate future.”
This comes only days after Trump, following a phone call with Putin, announced on social media that the two leaders would meet within two weeks in the Hungarian capital.
The Kremlin also confirmed the delay on Tuesday, stating there is “no precise timeframe” for any summit.
Trump’s announcement had set diplomatic wheels in motion, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday. A US official called this discussion “productive.”
However, the same official said an in-person follow-up between the diplomats was “not necessary,” signaling a halt to the preparations. This reversal occurs as Trump was also scheduled to discuss providing Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, a move certain to anger Moscow.

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