The preparations for a Trump-Putin meeting descended into acrimony when Moscow cancelled a planned face-to-face meeting between Mr Lavrov and Mr Rubio in Hungary.
Instead, the pair had a phone call on Monday, in which the Russian told his opposite number he would not agree to a ceasefire on America’s terms.
Signalling a breakdown in the talks between Washington and Moscow, a White House official said on Tuesday that the call between Mr Rubio and Mr Lavrov had been “productive”, adding: “Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”
The Kremlin then pointed out that no clear date had been set for the meeting, even though the US president said last Friday that it would likely happen “within two weeks”.
“Listen, we have an understanding of the presidents, but we cannot postpone what has not been finalised,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said. “Neither President Trump nor President Putin gave exact dates.”
Asked why the summit was cancelled, Mr Trump said he didn’t want to “have a wasted meeting”.
“I don’t want to have a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump added that he still “sees a chance” for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.
