Washington has decided to appoint Secretary of State Marco Rubio, instead of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to head the delegation that will conduct talks with Moscow ahead of the upcoming Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest.
According to Ukrinform, citing The Wall Street Journal and Deutsche Welle, the United States plans to hold more preparatory talks with Russia than it did before the August summit in Alaska.
The reshuffle has reportedly been welcomed by Ukrainian and European officials.
Behind the scenes, Trump’s team is working to strengthen the upcoming negotiations with Putin by using more powerful diplomatic tools than those employed during the Alaska summit in August.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Trump’s decision to hold another meeting with Putin carries certain risks, as the previous encounter ended without significant results and was widely perceived as a win for Moscow.
On October 16 – a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the United States – Trump held a two-hour phone call with Putin. Following the conversation, he announced an agreement to meet the Kremlin leader in Budapest. Preparations for the meeting are expected to be discussed by the U.S. and Russian delegations next week.
Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine