On October 21, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov affirmed that "there is still a lot of work to do" before the Russia-US summit scheduled to be held in the capital Budapest (Hungary).
He said that there was no specific time for the two sides to reach an agreement, although Moscow and Washington confirmed their meeting plans after a phone call between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump last week.
As you have heard from both the US and US sides, preparing for such a high-level meeting takes time. Therefore, it is not possible to say exactly when the conference will take place, Peskov told the press.
While the Kremlin stressed the "serious preparation" period, a series of Western media outlets simultaneously reported that the Putin-Trump summit plan in Budapest had been "temporarily put aside".
According to CNN, the meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, which was seen as a preparation step for the summit, has been postponed and will not take place again this week. A source quoted by Reuters said there were no plans for a meeting with Mr. Putin - Trump in the near future.
White House reporter Garrett Haake also wrote on X network: "The initial call between US Secretary Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was constructive, but President Trump said the two sides were not ready enough to enter a direct dialogue stage."
In response to reports from the West, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov immediately reacted, calling it a "calumatic propaganda campaign" to hinder diplomatic progress. He affirmed that preparations for "a major event" are still underway.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also denied reports of postponing talks between the two Foreign Ministers Lavrov and Rubio.
If held, the Putin-Trump summit will be the second bilateral meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to the White House. Observers say the conference's highlights could include the Ukrainian conflict, energy issues, and European security.
