US President Donald Trump said the possibility of meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Budapest Summit was high, adding that he would like to meet the Russian president in the Hungarian capital at the right time.
“If we have it, I’d like to do it in Budapest,” Trump said.
Trump first announced and then called off the meeting with Putin in the Hungarian capital last month, claiming that ending the conflict in Ukraine was beyond his reach.
However, when asked about the impending meeting ahead of his talks with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, at the White House on Friday, Trump said, “there’s always a chance, a very good chance,” that he will meet Putin.
The US President, nevertheless, dodged a question about whether a summit with Putin could take place before the end of the year.
On why he’d cancelled the previous summit, Trump said: “The basic dispute is that they just don’t want to stop yet”.
Also Read: Trump sees progress in resolving Ukraine war
The US is entangled as the third official and indirect party in the Ukraine crisis, making any possible solution even more difficult since Russia seizes more land while Ukraine doesn’t want a negotiated settlement.
Russia has demanded addressing the root causes of the conflict rather than a temporary ceasefire that would help Ukraine regain and reassemble its largely stretched and outnumbered troops.
Russia has also rejected the West’s calls for a ceasefire along the current contact line, arguing that ending the hostilities would require a permanent solution rather than a temporary truce.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who is a staunch supporter of Russia in the EU and NATO blocs, said, “There are one or two unresolved issues left in US-Russia negotiations” to settle the Ukraine conflict.
“Resolving these issues could lead to a peace summit in Budapest within a few days,” he stated.
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