After the highest special envoys of the US and Russia held talks, a White House official informed The Epoch Times that there are no plans for a meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin in the near future.
The official stated that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a “productive call” on Tuesday, October 21.
“Therefore, there is no need for another face-to-face meeting between the Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister, and President Trump also does not have plans to meet with President Putin in the near future,” the official said.
Sources told The Epoch Times that Rubio has canceled a meeting with Lavrov scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday). It is reported that the two sides did not reach an agreement following the phone call.
The call between Rubio and Lavrov was expected to lay the groundwork for a possible summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest, Hungary. Trump, after a phone call with Putin last week, told reporters that he anticipated a meeting with Putin “in a week or two.”
However, Rubio might still have another call with Lavrov later this week. Additionally, both Rubio and Lavrov are set to travel to Malaysia. Rubio is scheduled to fly to Malaysia on Friday. A meeting may take place in Malaysia, but no itinerary has been arranged at the moment.
In February 2022, the Russian military began a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to help end the war in Ukraine. He admitted that resolving the conflict has been more challenging than anticipated.
Trump and Putin previously met in Alaska in August, but that summit did not make substantial progress in ending the war. Critics argue that Putin is stalling Trump to prevent the US from providing additional weapons to Ukraine.
Last week, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Zelensky at the White House, where Trump expressed skepticism about providing remote “Tomahawk” cruise missiles to Ukraine.
When discussing Ukraine’s chances in the war on Monday, Trump said, “They can still win this war. I don’t think they will win, but they can still win.”