Russian Foreign Minister says Moscow ‘still ready’ for Putin-Trump summit

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has indicated that Moscow is ready to resume preparations for a Russia-US summit meeting over Ukraine, state media reported.

A meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin planned in the Hungarian capital of Budapest did not materialise last month.

“We are still ready to hold the second Russian-US summit in Budapest, if it really relies on the work on Alaska results. The date has not been agreed. Russian-US contacts continue”, Lavrov said as reported by TASS which cited his interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, which the Russian state media said has refused to publish it.

As per a report in the Financial Times Russia had sent a memo to the US listing hardline demands, which forced officials in Washington to cancel the Putin-Trump Budapest meeting. According to TASS, Lavrov said the newspaper report contained many instances of false information.

The Russian Foreign Minister claimed the memo was meant to remind the US side of what had been discussed and agreed upon between the Russian and US leaders during their meeting in Alaska earlier in August.

Lavrov said that the newspaper “distorted the essence and the sequence of events to blame Moscow and misdirect Donald Trump of the path he has offered, i.e. a path toward a sustainable and lasting peace rather than an immediate ceasefire, where Zelensky’s European sponsors, who are obsessed with an idea of taking a breather and flooding the Nazi regime with weapons to continue the war against Russia, are seeking to drag him into.”

On October 16, Trump had a phone conversation with Putin and both leaders agreed to meet in Budapest, Hungary for a second summit this year. Both sides had confirmed that Lavrov and the US Secretary of State Rubio would coordinate ahead of the meeting.The two leaders had earlier this year in August met in Anchorage, Alaska. (ANI)