huffingtonpost - 3 days ago

Donald Trump and Vladimir PutinDonald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s latest efforts to have another face-to-face fell flat after Russia sent a very telling memo to the US.According to the Financial Times, the States cancelled the Budapest summit after Moscow made it clear it was still not willing to bend over its hardline stance with the Ukraine war.Trump has been trying to force Putin to the negotiating table since he returned to office in January, but the Russian president has been dragging his feet.The two leaders were meant to be meeting in Europe this month but it seems the US administration was so unimpressed with Russia’s ongoing refusal to compromise that the entire summit was cancelled.Russian foreign ministry allegedly sent a memo to Washington outlining how Putin was still calling for the supposed “root causes” of his invasion to be addressed – even though the West widely believes he invaded Ukraine in a land grab.Sources also told the newspaper that a subsequent call between the Russian and American chief diplomats, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, led to the collapse of the summit.Officials reportedly concluded the gap between their two points of view was so vast, it would be too difficult to start negotiations.Moscow is allegedly sticking to its demands that Ukraine must surrender more territory if they are to achieve any kind of ceasefire.It also wants a reduction of Ukraine’s armed forces and guarantees it will never join Nato.The FT reported that Rubio had told Trump Moscow was showing no willingness to negotiate.Reuters news agency was not able to immediately corroborate the story as Russian government officials and White House officials did not comment. But the American president said on Tuesday he did not want to have a “wasted meeting” with Putin.It would have been their second summit of the year after Trump hosted Putin in Alaska in August.The US president literally rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader and gave up his own bid to secure a ceasefire over the Ukraine war – while Putin flatly refused to give up any of his own goals in the name of peace.Trump has since backed Ukraine’s call for an immediate ceasefire.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in October that Kyiv is ready for peace talks but warned it will not withdraw its troops from additional territory as requested by Putin.Zelenskyy said he is working on a ceasefire plan in the coming 10 days, and has repeated his plea for long-range missiles from his allies.Meanwhile, the US slapped sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil firms earlier this month.Related...Trump Dodges Sensitive Question In Front Of Chinese PresidentTrump Just Called For The US To Resume Nuclear Testing – And Even The Kremlin Was Caught Off GuardTrump Creates Another Hero Myth About Himself, This Time Making His Aides Sound Like Fools

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