Foreign Minister Lavrov And Rubio Soon Meet To Prepare For Putin - Trump Meeting

JAKARTA - Kremlin officials said on Thursday Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would soon hold talks in the coming days, preparing for a meeting of President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the timing of the meeting would depend on how the preparation process goes.

Ushakov delivered the statement at a briefing to reporters regarding a phone call between President Putin and President Trump, the eighth this year, which he said was carried out at Moscow's initiative.

He said President Trump had proposed Budapest as a place for the summit and President Putin immediately agreed.

Ushakov explained that President Putin had reiterated to President Trump his long-held position regarding the war situation in Ukraine, saying Russian troops had strategic initiatives along the front lines.

As previously reported, President Trump on Thursday announced plans for a meeting with President Putin in the Hungarian capital, after two hours of telephone talks.

"After the phone call, we agreed there would be a meeting of our High-Level Advisor next week. President Putin and I will then meet at the agreed location, Budapest, Hungary," he wrote on Truth Social's social networking page, quoted by TASS.

The US president said the two leaders were likely to meet in the next two weeks. The Kremlin confirmed plans for the meeting, although the two sides did not give an exact date when the meeting would take place.

"Throughout my life, I have made an agreement," President Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I think we're going to finish this one, hopefully soon," he hoped.