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Plans for crunch talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Hungary are on hold.
The meeting was only announced last week and was meant to happen in Budapest inside the following month.
Following a phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the upcoming mediation has been scrapped.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there was no real urgency for Trump and Putin to satisfy, adding: ‘Preparation is required, serious preparation.’
But today, Sergei Ryabkov, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, told TASS: ‘There are not any significant obstacles to a gathering between Putin and Trump.’
Samantha de Bendern, associate fellow within the Chatham House Russia programme, told Metro a variety of things are at play within the bout of whiplash brought on by Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict.
Putin’s move is his latest effort to stall for time to proceed his illegal invasion of Ukraine, de Bendern argues.
‘Humiliation’ for Putin to travel as a wanted man
‘It’s quite humiliating for Putin to should undergo this rigmarole of even reaching Budapest. The fuss in regards to the flight plan is definitely highlighting the proven fact that he’s a wanted criminal,’ de Bendern tells Metro.
For over two years, the Russian leader has been the main target of an international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The warrant seeks to haul the 72-year-old before a tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for allegedly trafficking Ukrainian children from occupied territories into Russia.
Putin is arguably essentially the most powerful goal of the International Criminal Court in its 21-year history, and essentially the most high-profile leader to be formally accused of war crimes because the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officials.
De Bendern added: ‘Nevertheless much the Russians attempt to say that this can be a completely illegal judgment, it does impede his movement, and it’s making this an increasing number of obvious to the Russian public that their president cannot just fly where he wants.’
Security worries
The Russians seem like apprehensive about security as well. Despite the fact that Budapest is in a rustic which is friendly with Russia, it’s surrounded by Ukrainian allies.
The last time Putin and Trump met was in Anchorage, Alaska, which is isolated from much of the world.
‘It was an American base completely under control from a security perspective, which the Russians would have felt comfortable with,’ De Bendern said.
If the war ends, Putin has to ‘face the music’ at home
The Russians are also likely delaying a gathering with Trump in a bid to avoid ending the war altogether.
The Ukrainians have offered to freeze the fighting at the present lines, but de Bendern adds: ‘This is able to mean Russia has to confess they haven’t incorporated the 4 regions they’ve claimed to already.
‘If the war ends, he’s going to should face all these demobilised men who’ve nowhere to go, haven’t any jobs to go to. He’s cranked up the Russian wartime economy to be a full-time war economy. How do you reorient to civilian production?
‘So long as the war is occurring, he can maintain the pretence that the Russian economy is being productive and that industrial output is high since it is all going to the war machine.’
A diplomatic relationship on fragile ground
The dynamic between Trump and Putin is already fraught, and each countries are desirous to avoid diplomatic humiliation, de Bendern said.
‘The Russians are doing the whole lot they will to suck as much as Trump. Have a look at Kirill Dmitriyev, Putin’s special envoy, who’s been bragging about all of the wonderful trade opportunities for the US and Russia.
‘Their goal appears to be to divide the US from its European allies, and I’d say they’re partially being successful.’
Ultimately, de Bendern says, neither leader wants a gathering which is able to result in nothing. If the meeting does eventually go ahead, it likely won’t occur in Budapest, she adds, but somewhere more diplomatically neutral.
De Bendern also points out the messages between Karoline Leavitt and the Huffington Post this week in regards to the potential meeting, which she says shows a ‘complete lack of know-how of the situation’ at hand.
Reporter SV Date asked Karoline: ‘Is the President aware of the importance of Budapest? In 1994, Russia promised, in Budapest, to not invade Ukraine if it gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited when the Soviet Union dissolved. Does he not see why Ukraine might object to that site?
‘Who suggested Budapest? Thanks,’ he added.
The White House Press Secretary replied: ‘Your mom did.’
Date replied: ‘Is that this funny to you?’
De Bendern says it’s clear the US doesn’t understand the gravity of this meeting, which could make planning it even rockier than it already is.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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