Plans for crunch talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Hungary are on hold.

The meeting was only announced last week and was meant to take place in Budapest within the next month.

But the proposal has been scrapped after a phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there was no real urgency for Trump and Putin to meet over Ukraine,adding: ‘Preparation is needed,serious preparation.’

Sergei Ryabkov,the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation,told TASS: ‘There are no significant obstacles to a meeting between Putin and Trump.’

Samantha de Bendern,associate fellow in the Chatham House Russia programme,told Metro a number of things are at play in the bout of whiplash caused by Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict.

Putin’s move is his latest effort to stall for time to continue his illegal invasion of Ukraine,de Bendern argues.

‘Humiliation’ for Putin to travel as a wanted man

Putin has been the focus of an international arrest warrant for years (Picture: AP)

‘It’s quite humiliating for Putin to have to go through this rigmarole of even reaching Budapest. The fuss about the flight plan is actually highlighting the fact that he is a wanted criminal,’ de Bendern tells Metro.

For over two years, the Russian leader has been the focus of an international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The warrant seeks to haul the 72-year-old before a tribunal in The Hague,Netherlands,for allegedly trafficking Ukrainian children from occupied territories into Russia.

Putin is arguably the most powerful target of the International Criminal Court in its 21-year history,and the most high-profile leader to be formally accused of war crimes since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officials.

De Bendern added: ‘However much the Russians try to say that this is a completely illegal judgment,it does impede his movement,and it’s making this more and more obvious to the Russian public that their president cannot just fly where he wants.’

Security worries

The Russians appear to be worried about security as well. Even though Budapest is in a country which is friendly with Russia,it’s surrounded by Ukrainian allies.

The last time Putin and Trump met was in Anchorage,Alaska,which is isolated from much of the world.

‘It was an American base completely under control from a security point of view,which the Russians would have felt comfortable with,’ De Bendern said.

If the war ends,Putin has to ‘face the music’ at home

Russians have become used to the ‘booming’ wartime economy – what if it stops? (Picture: AP)

The Russians are also likely delaying a meeting with Trump in a bid to avoid ending the war altogether.

The Ukrainians have offered to freeze the fighting at the current lines,but de Bendern adds: ‘This would mean Russia has to admit they haven’t incorporated the four regions they’ve claimed to already.

‘If the war ends,he’s going to have to face all these demobilised men who have nowhere to go,have no jobs to go to. He’s cranked up the Russian wartime economy to be a full-time war economy. How do you reorient to civilian production?

‘As long as the war is going on,he can maintain the pretence that the Russian economy is being productive and that industrial output is high because it is all going to the war machine.’

A diplomatic relationship on fragile ground

Trump and Putin last met in Alaska (Picture: AFP)

The dynamic between Trump and Putin is already fraught,and both countries are eager to avoid diplomatic humiliation,de Bendern said.

‘The Russians are doing everything they can to suck up to Trump. Look at Kirill Dmitriyev,Putin’s special envoy,who’s been bragging about all the wonderful trade opportunities for the US and Russia. 

‘Their goal appears to be to divide the US from its European allies,and I would say they are partially being successful.’

Ultimately,de Bendern says,neither leader wants a meeting which will lead to nothing. If the meeting does eventually go ahead,it likely won’t happen in Budapest,she adds,but somewhere more diplomatically neutral.

De Bendern also points out the messages between Karoline Leavitt and the Huffington Post this week about the potential meeting,which she says shows a ‘complete lack of understanding of the situation’ at hand.

Budapest was where Russia promised not to invade Ukraine in 1994 (Picture: Getty)

Reporter SV Date asked Karoline: ‘Is the President aware of the significance of Budapest? In 1994,Russia promised,in Budapest,not to invade Ukraine if it gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited when the Soviet Union dissolved. Does he not see why Ukraine might object to that site?

‘Who suggested Budapest? Thanks,’ he added.

The White House Press Secretary replied: ‘Your mom did.’

Date replied: ‘Is this funny to you?’

De Bendern says it’s clear the US doesn’t understand the gravity of this meeting,which could make planning it even rockier than it already is.