Trump says he doesn’t want ‘wasting time meeting’ with Putin

Following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, US President Trump announced that the two presidents would meet in Budapest, Hungary, soon. On the 21st, Trump said the scheduled meeting was postponed because he didn’t want to “waste time.” “I don’t want to have a meaningless meeting,” he said. “I don’t want to waste time—so we’ll see what happens.” He also stated that a decision regarding the meeting would be made in the coming days. A White House official also revealed that Trump will meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on the 22nd. The official did not provide any details about the agenda. Trump’s decision to postpone the Budapest meeting reportedly followed a phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the 20th. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement following the call, stating that Lavrov and Rubio had a “constructive discussion” that day regarding the consensus reached by the two presidents in their previous phone call. The two sides discussed possible concrete measures to implement the agreement, but the statement did not provide further details. US State Department Chief Deputy Spokesperson Piggott also issued a statement the same day, saying the upcoming talks between the two presidents on Ukraine are “critically important” and provide an opportunity for the US and Russia to jointly promote a lasting resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since taking office in January, Trump’s stance on Russia-Ukraine peace talks has shifted repeatedly. Last week, after separate phone calls with Putin and meetings with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Trump stated that Russia and Ukraine should “divide” Donbas along current battle lines, demarcate a ceasefire, and withdraw their troops. Earlier this year, Trump pressured Ukraine to make territorial concessions to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and in late September, he asserted that Ukraine was capable of restoring the status quo ante. On October 17, during his meeting with Zelenskyy, when asked by reporters whether Ukraine needed to trade territory for peace, Trump simply said, “No one knows.” Zelenskyy told reporters the same day that territorial concessions were a “sensitive” and “difficult” issue.