Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed disappointment over the postponement of his planned meeting with US President Donald Trump, which was to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in the coming weeks.
Emphasising the importance of diplomacy in resolving the war in Ukraine, Putin said, “Dialogue is always better than confrontation, than disputes, or even more so than war. That is why we have always supported the continuation of dialogue, and we continue to support it now.”
Putin confirmed that the summit was originally proposed by the US, but has now been postponed at Washington’s request. “It would be a mistake for both me and the US President to approach this lightly and come away from this meeting without the expected result,” he said.
The Russian leader also criticised Washington’s latest sanctions targeting Russia’s top oil producers Rosneft and Lukoil, calling them a “futile attempt to strong-arm Moscow into compliance.”
“No self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure,” Putin said, warning that the sanctions could destabilise global energy markets and drive up oil prices.
The US Treasury Department announced the new restrictions on Wednesday, saying they were aimed at “limiting Russia’s ability to finance its aggression.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move, describing it as a step that would “weaken the Kremlin’s capacity to wage war.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the sanctions as “counterproductive,” with spokesperson Maria Zakharova asserting that Moscow has “strong immunity” to Western economic pressure. “We consider this step to be exclusively counterproductive,” Zakharova said, as quoted by Tass.
She added that Russia remains open to dialogue with the US and sees “no significant obstacles” in continuing talks to outline a political settlement framework for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, Trump said he hoped the war would be “settled soon,” calling the sanctions “tremendous” and “very big against their two big oil companies.”
Trump, however, defended his decision to cancel the Budapest meeting, saying he didn’t “want to have a wasted meeting.” “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So, I cancelled it, but we’ll do it in the future,” he said.
Despite recent tensions, both sides have left the door open for future dialogue aimed at de-escalating the conflict in Ukraine.
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