According to Lavrov, it is not known who exactly prepared these reports, but after them the meeting did not take place.
“I don’t know where and from whom the undercover reports to the American leader came from, after which he either postponed or canceled the Budapest summit. But I outlined to you the chronology of events, based solely on the facts for which I am responsible. And I am going to respond to outright fakes about Russia’s “unpreparedness for negotiations,” he noted.
The foreign minister of the aggressor country claims that the Trump administration allegedly recognized the “unacceptability of Ukraine’s involvement in NATO” and “openly admitted” that the territorial issue cannot be ignored.
He added that Russia is ready to hold the summit if it is “based on the well-developed results of preliminary negotiations.”
Context
Trump announced on October 16 that he intended to hold a meeting with Putin in Hungary. He did not announce the date of the summit, but noted that negotiations at the level of foreign ministers were planned before this.
On October 22, Trump said he had canceled a summit with Putin in Budapest, but he said they would meet “in the future.”
On the same day, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil due to “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to the peace process aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.”
According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Trump-Putin summit is hampered by “one or two unresolved issues.” Afterwards, there may be peace in Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister added in an interview published on November 6.
On November 7, Trump said that the Russian Federation does not yet want to end the war against Ukraine. “I didn't want this meeting because I didn't think that [на ней] something significant will happen. But if we hold it, I would like it to take place in Budapest,” the American president emphasized.
On November 11, Orbán said Trump and Putin would meet in Budapest, but it was not yet clear when.
