A “productive” phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday will not, in fact, lead to an imminent presidential summit.
A US official confirmed Tuesday that “no plans” exist for President Trump to meet Vladimir Putin in the “immediate future,” despite Trump’s recent claims.
The call between the top diplomats was arranged after Trump, following a call with Putin, posted on social media that a Budapest summit was just two weeks away.
The Kremlin also confirmed the delay on Tuesday, stating there is “no precise timeframe” for a meeting.
The anonymous US official added that after the “productive” call, an in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov was “not necessary.” This shift comes after Putin’s August visit to Alaska and amid Trump’s boasts of his “personal chemistry” with the Russian leader.
