The leader of the "Other Ukraine" movement and former head of the "Opposition Platform - For Life" party, Viktor Medvedchuk, said that US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the planned talks in Budapest with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a signal to Moscow "to destroy the criminal regime in Kiev", TASS reports, News.bg reports.
Medvedchuk's comment comes after a statement by Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who suggested "to destroy the hideouts of Bandera supporters with various types of weapons, without thinking of them as pointless negotiations“.
“The US withdrawal from the negotiation process sends a signal to Russia to destroy the criminal regime of Vladimir Zelensky. Only then can the long-awaited negotiation process begin,“ Medvedchuk said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed yesterday that the meeting in Budapest was proposed by the US side and has been postponed, not canceled. He added that such meetings require serious preparation and that Trump fully shares this view.
Following a phone call between the two leaders on October 16, they agreed to meet in Budapest, and Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio began working on specific measures to strengthen the dialogue.
CNN later reported that the meeting between Lavrov and Rubio had been postponed indefinitely. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the allegations of inconsistency an “information farce“, and the Kremlin specified that preparations are ongoing and the dates will be determined at a later stage.
Trump promised to announce in the coming days whether the meeting will still take place.
Meanwhile, Hungary confirmed that it is continuing organizational activities and expressed hope that the summit will take place. On October 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also confirmed that preparations are ongoing.