Regarding the timing of the meeting between Trump and Putin, Ushakov said that “there are no guidelines.”
“But the fundamental readiness to hold a meeting, if it is worked out in advance by experts, remains,” he added.
When asked if this means that the meeting can’t be waited until the new year, Ushakov recalled that the summit in Alaska in August was organized quite quickly.
Context
On October 16, Trump had a telephone conversation with Putin, after which he announced their meeting in Budapest. He did not announce the date of the summit, but noted that before that Negotiations are planned at the level of foreign ministers.
On October 21, CNN reported that the meeting between Trump and Putin may not take place as planned and that the meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will likely not take place this week either. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in response to CNN's news, stated that “it is impossible to postpone what has not been agreed upon.”
On October 22, Trump announced that he had canceled the summit with Putin in Budapest, but, according to him, they will meet in the future. On the same day, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil.
On October 23, Putin said that “it would be a mistake” to prepare poorly for the meeting and leave after it “without the expected result,” so the summit was not canceled, but “rather, postponed.”
