MOSCOW — Preparations are still underway for a possible summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, but neither the date nor the location has been finalised, the Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasised that “careful preparation is necessary — it takes time,” and reiterated that neither leader wants to meet merely for the sake of optics.
Although the meeting was widely anticipated to take place in Budapest, Hungary, senior Hungarian officials also acknowledged the uncertainty, stating that while the venue remains under discussion, “the date is still uncertain.” Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official told Reuters that there are “no plans for a Trump-Putin meeting in the immediate future,” reflecting Washington’s concerns about a summit that might not yield meaningful progress.
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a briefing that he saw no “significant obstacles” to the meeting, but stressed that negotiators still need to fill in the specifics of the parameters set by the leaders in their earlier meeting in Alaska.
The summit’s fate now depends on whether Moscow and Washington can bridge divergent positions on Ukraine, including Russia’s refusal to endorse an immediate cease-fire along current battle lines, and the U.S.’s insistence that the meeting be truly purposeful rather than symbolic.
