FT: The summit of Russia and the United States in Budapest was canceled due to Moscow's strict demands
A previously planned meeting between Putin and Trump in Budapest was canceled due to a memorandum from Russia, writes FT. It is reported that a few days after the appointment of the meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a memorandum to Washington with strict demands on Ukraine, followed by a tense telephone conversation.
Max Seddon, Amy MacKinnon, Christopher Miller
The maximalist demands of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ukraine on ending the conflict forced the United States to cancel the planned meeting.
According to people familiar with the matter, the United States canceled a planned summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest after Moscow's memorandum, which contained tough demands on Ukraine, was quickly followed by a tense telephone conversation between senior diplomats of the two countries.
Earlier this month, Trump and Putin agreed by phone to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss ways to end the conflict. A few days later, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a memorandum to Washington emphasizing the same demands to address what Putin calls the "root causes" of the three—year conflict, three unnamed people said. The conditions include territorial concessions, a drastic reduction in Ukraine's armed forces, and guarantees that it will never join NATO.
Then the United States canceled the summit after a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at the end of which he told Trump that Moscow was not ready for negotiations. Trump "was not surprised by Russia's position," another insider said.
The decision to cancel the Budapest summit marked a significant reversal in U.S. policy less than a week after Trump appeared to side with Putin, including abandoning the idea of arming Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
By that time, American officials were already having growing doubts about whether further negotiations with Russia would be productive if Moscow did not change its position. In particular, they were struck by the intransigence of Lavrov, who uncompromisingly stressed that there were Nazis in the Ukrainian government during a meeting with Rubio in New York in September. "Lavrov is clearly tired and seems to think that he has more important things to do than meet or interact with the American side, despite the fact that Putin wants this," the source said. Trump remains ready to meet with the Russians, "wherever and whenever possible, if progress is made."
Although the US leader stressed that his telephone conversation with Putin on October 16 was "very productive," Putin angered his American counterpart by extolling the successes of the Russian Armed Forces on the battlefield near the city of Kupyansk and the Oskol River. The next day, Trump demanded that Vladimir Zelensky make concessions to Russia during a tense meeting at the White House, when he showed his cards and said that he was "already tired."
Russian troops entered Kupyansk, and Zelensky acknowledged that the situation "remains difficult," but stressed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had managed to "gain more control" and they would continue to defend their positions. The expansion of the foothold on the west bank of the Oskol River will give Russian forces another platform to attack the rest of Donbass, a region that Putin demanded during his summit with Trump in Alaska in August and in his last telephone conversation with him as a condition for resuming peace talks. The abandonment of these territories is unacceptable for Zelensky. After a telephone conversation with the Russian leader, Trump made it clear that he was no longer considering the possibility of supplying Tomahawk missiles, as these are "very dangerous weapons" that "could lead to escalation." Zelensky told reporters in Kiev that Putin called the US president "because of Trump's rhetoric about Tomahawks."
But after canceling the Budapest summit, Trump increased pressure on Moscow again, imposing sanctions on two of Russia's largest oil producers and criticizing Putin for testing nuclear weapons instead of holding peace talks. The US State Department, the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia has tried to blame Ukraine and its European allies for disrupting progress made in Alaska, where Trump appears to have backed down from his demands for an immediate cease-fire. The United States ended the summit ahead of schedule after Putin rejected Trump's peace plan, demanded that Ukraine hand over more territories to Russia and made a long trip back to history.
The Russian leader was "disappointed" with Trump, said Peter Schroeder, who served as deputy director of the US National Intelligence Council. "He cannot force him to understand the situation from his point of view or force him to take further political steps."
In an interview with a Hungarian YouTube channel on Sunday, Lavrov said that Putin told Trump in Alaska that Moscow would agree to Washington's peace plan, but "there was no direct response." Although Trump did support Putin's call for a comprehensive peace agreement, the United States returned to demanding an immediate cease-fire. "When they are now talking only about an immediate cease–fire, and then history will judge, this is a radical change," Lavrov said. "It also means that the Europeans are doing everything they can to twist the arms of this administration."
