Russia was smug about Trump-Putin talks. Now, Moscow’s anxious

Russia scrambled on Wednesday to salvage the prospect of in-person talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin after they had been unceremoniously placed on maintain.

Trump mentioned on Tuesday that he did not need “to have a wasted assembly” with Putin, which was set to happen in Hungary within the subsequent few weeks, because it turned clear that Russia opposes the thought of a right away ceasefire with Ukraine.

“I do not need to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what occurs,” Trump mentioned following a name on Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov.

After the decision, Russia’s high diplomat instructed reporters in Moscow that he had instructed Rubio that “Russia has not modified its place” since Trump and Putin met in Alaska in August, and that whereas Moscow wished a “lasting and sustainable peace,” it was not fascinated by an “fast ceasefire that can result in nothing.”

After these feedback, and with Trump seemingly pouring chilly water on the thought of assembly Putin once more, the Kremlin appeared to enter injury limitation mode, insisting on Wednesday that the dates for the summit in Budapest “weren’t set” however that preparations had been nonetheless underway.

“That is but to be accomplished. Cautious preparation is required earlier than then. Time is required for that,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, instructed reporters, in feedback translated by NBC Information.

“There is not any information but; it is clear that every one of that is surrounded by lots of gossip, rumors, and so forth. For essentially the most half, they’re utterly unfaithful. There is not any information but,” he added.

There was greater than a whiff of smugness and schadenfreude in Moscow, and Russian state media, final week when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s personal in-person talks with Trump final Friday appeared to go badly.