US President Donald Trump has canceled a scheduled summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, saying he does not believe the negotiations will bring the desired results at this stage of the dialogue. Russia has yet to comment.
President Trump made the announcement during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on October 22, saying the scheduled summit in Hungary was " inappropriate".
"We felt we could not achieve the desired goals, so I canceled it," Trump said.
However, President Trump has not ruled out holding talks with President Putin at a later date. "We will hold a summit in the future," Trump added, but did not specify the time and location of the meeting.
Mr Trump's comments came shortly after the US Treasury Department announced additional sanctions against Russia, citing "this country lacks serious commitments to the peace process".
The sanctions target Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as their subsidiaries.
However, the US president admitted that he is not sure whether the new sanctions will change Russia's stance on the Ukrainian conflict. "Hopefully Mr. Putin will be reasonable, and hopefully Mr. Zelensky of Ukraine will be reasonable. It takes two people to dance," Trump said.
The plan for the first Putin - Trump summit was announced last week after the two leaders spoke over the phone, although the specific date has not yet been set.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously said the Russia-US meeting should be prepared with "serious steps", stressing that a summit between the two leaders "should not be wasted" because both presidents "are familiar with efforts towards results".
