Lavrov claims “secret reports” prompted Trump to cancel second Putin-summit

 A planned encounter between the U.S. and Russian presidents never materialised, leaving diplomats on both sides pointing to competing explanations.

But why did the highly-anticipated second summit between the two leaders get cancelled?

Well, Donald Trump said when he announced the cancellation, that he didn’t want to “waste time”, but now the Kremlin has revealed their version of the reason why.

What happened?

According to B92, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters both presidents agreed during a mid-October phone call to meet in person, choosing the Hungarian capital of Budapest as a neutral meeting site.

The Russian minister indicated he was taken aback by the reversal, given the earlier understanding between the two leaders.

Just months prior, Trump and Putin had a summit in Alaska, after which both presidents signalled increased understanding for each others viewpoints.

The secret reports

B92 further cited Lavrov for saying that, according to his information, U.S. President Donald Trump received “secret reports” that convinced him to pull out of the scheduled talks in Budapest with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Where and from whom these behind-the-scenes reports reached the American leader, leading him to either postpone or cancel the Budapest summit, is unknown,” Lavrov stated.

He also denied that the cancellation was because of Russian unwillingness to negotiate.

Future uncertain

According to B92, Lavrov noted that Moscow still supports holding another summit if both sides see value in continuing discussions.

He offered no indication of when — or whether — a renewed meeting might be arranged, saying only that diplomatic channels remain open.

He also emphazised that no date for a possible summit has been set, but that Russo-U.S. contacts remain.

Sources: B92 reporting; public statements by Sergey Lavrov.