"Not in the near ..."

No summit with Trump and Putin for the time being

After Alaska, Trump wanted to lay out the red carpet for Putin in Budapest this time - but this will not happen any time soon.(Bild: AFP/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)

Despite recent speculation about an imminent summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the White House has significantly dampened expectations. As a senior representative of the Office of the President explained on Tuesday, such a meeting is not planned "in the near future".

Previously, the US President himself had mentioned another meeting with the Russian head of state - allegedly within two weeks in Budapest. This statement caused an international stir as it hinted at a possible rapprochement between Washington and Moscow.

Not even foreign ministers come together
However, expectations are now being tempered in Washington. Even the chief diplomats of both countries - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov - currently have no plans for a face-to-face meeting, as the government representative went on to emphasize. However, their telephone conversation on Monday was "productive".

The major issue of contention in US support revolves around the possible delivery of "Tomahawk" cruise missiles:

The statements underline the tensions in relations between the US and Russia - and at the same time the differences between Trump's public announcements and the official line of his staff.

Selenskyj: Russia does not want peace
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russia does not want peace through diplomacy. The fact that the USA has postponed its decision on the delivery of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine means that "Russia is almost automatically less interested in diplomacy", Selensky explained in his evening video address on Tuesday. "Russia is once again doing everything it can to abandon diplomacy."

Poland refuses overflight
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has warned Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin against flying over Poland for a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Budapest. "We cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court will not order a hypothetical plane with Putin on board to be forced to land so that the suspect can be handed over to the court in The Hague," Sikorski told Radio Rodzina.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023. He is accused of war crimes such as the abduction of hundreds of children from Ukraine.

"I think the Russian side is aware of the situation," Sikorski continued. If the summit were to take place in Budapest, Putin's plane would therefore take a different route. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on Sikorski's statement by saying that Poland itself was now prepared to commit acts of terrorism.