Preparations are underway for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, quoted by the Russian state agency RIA Novosti, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
"Preparations for the meeting are continuing", Ryabkov was quoted as saying. "I don't see any major obstacles. The question is whether the parameters outlined by the presidents when they were in Anchorage will be specified in detail. This is a difficult process, I admit – but that's what diplomats are for.
Ryabkov also said he could not confirm that Russia had communicated its position to Washington in the so-called "unofficial document".
Earlier, two US officials told Reuters that Russia had confirmed its previous conditions for reaching a peace agreement with Ukraine in an "unofficial document".
US President Donald Trump said he did not want a "pointless meeting" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Agence France-Presse reported. Trump said this after it became clear earlier yesterday that there would be no new meeting between him and Putin for the time being after the one in Alaska in August. The reason is the differences in positions on the war in Ukraine.
Only last week, the US president announced such a meeting in Budapest, highlighting progress in the negotiations on Ukraine. "No, no, I don't want a pointless meeting. "I don't want to waste time, so we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. Russia's refusal to immediately agree to a ceasefire has cast a shadow over efforts to start talks, Reuters notes.
Hungary remains ready to host a high-level peace meeting between the United States and Russia, as unity offers hope for resolving the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with American media today, quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI, BTA reports.
According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Budapest, Szijjarto welcomed the fact that the presidents of the United States and Russia spoke again last week, so there is hope for a personal meeting in Budapest, although questions have been raised about the timing of it.
Szijjarto said Hungary remains ready to host the meeting. "Our government has represented the cause of peace for the past three and a half years," he said, adding that Hungary would provide all the necessary conditions for the success of the meeting and expressed hope that it would take place.