Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man has revealed that Russia will not agree to a ceasefire unless clear terms are met – and experts see this as a major blow to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of Putin’s summit in Budapest.
“Russia will NOT agree to a ceasefire until the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine are resolved,” said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a statement. It comes after confusion erupted surrounding a reported meeting between Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
CNN reported that the talks were to take place in preparation for Trump’s and Putin’s summit in Hungary, but had been “put on hold for the time being” because Rubio and Lavrov had “divergent expectations” about an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It was initially reported that Russia is unwilling to soften its stance or scale back on its demands, such as Ukraine surrendering full control of Donetsk, a strategically crucial region in the eastern part of the country, making Rubio hesitant to recommend a Trump-Putin meeting next week.
However, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov dismissed those claims on Tuesday, saying, “it’s incorrect to say the meeting was delayed” because “no agreement existed to begin with.”
“You can’t postpone something that was never agreed upon,” Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow. “We had no understanding of the timing or the place for such a contact. The idea exists, of course, and it’s an important one – but it requires preparation. That’s what we’re doing.”
Lavrov and Rubio talked on Monday about plans for a summit for their respective presidents, which is expected to be held in Budapest. The summit was announced ahead of Zelensky’s visit to the White House on Friday. Lavrov called the call “constructive,” saying both spoke about “concrete steps” to follow up on understandings reached during Trump’s call with Putin on Oct. 16.
Trump wrote about the phone call in a Truth Social post last week, calling it “very productive.”
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“At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with other various people, to be designated. A meeting location is to be determined,” he wrote.
“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.”
Despite Russia’s flexibility with the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s postion on ending the war “has not changed.”
Following his call with Putin and immediate meeting with Zelensky, Trump suggested that Moscow and Kyiv “should stop where they are,” referring to the current front-line operations.
Zelensky has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet with Putin to end the war; however, neither the White House nor the Kremlin has mentioned his involvement in the planned Budapest summit.
