The talks will take place in the late afternoon, it is said. The background to the meeting is considered to be President Trump's current efforts to end the war in Ukraine. He recently spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about this and then signaled the possibility of a meeting with the Kremlin leader in Budapest. On Tuesday (21.10.2025) US media reported that plans for the meeting have been frozen, or at least postponed.
A senior official in Washington is quoted as saying that a meeting is not expected "soon", several news agencies unanimously reported without naming names. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were originally scheduled to meet this week to prepare for the summit between the two presidents in Budapest.
But after a telephone conversation between Rubio and Lavrov on Monday (19.10.2025) a meeting is no longer necessary, it is reported. There is no official confirmation of this yet. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hinted that there is no rush regarding the meeting between the two presidents. For this meeting, "preparations are necessary, serious preparations"./DW
