US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not completely off the table”.
Trump on Thursday called off the Budapest summit, following much hype that a second meeting between the two leaders was happening on short notice after foreign ministers from both sides spoke on the phone a day before the summit was cancelled.
Leavitt said, “A meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table. I think the president and the entire administration hope that one day that can happen again.”
President Trump “has not seen enough interest in action” from Russia to move towards a meaningful settlement, she said. Moscow has maintained that any solution to take to become a concrete fix of the Ukraine conflict goes through acknowledging the root causes and subsequent concerns of Russia.”
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When asked about the latest sanctions imposed on Russia, she responded, saying, “The president has always maintained that he would implement sanctions on Russia when he felt it was appropriate and necessary... and Wednesday was that day.”
Meanwhile, Putin said on Thursday that this was an "unfriendly move" that had caused harm to US-Russia relations, which he believed were recovering. Putin said the latest sanctions would not significantly impact the Russian economy; the decision was harsh, but “no self-respecting nation” would make a “decision under pressure”.
He also confirmed the postponement of the summit with US President Donald Trump. “What can I say? Dialogue is always better than confrontation, disputes, or, even more so, war,” Putin said.
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