Just a week ago, the idea of a “European summit without Europe” was celebrated in the Russian media. The meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest was supposed to symbolize Moscow’s return to “grand diplomacy” – without Brussels, without Ukraine, only with Washington at the table. Today, however, this dream is definitely a thing of the past. President Trump canceled the summit, arguing that he “didn’t see room to move where we need to go.”
The reaction of the Kremlin did not take long. While former President Dmitry Medvedev described the decision of the United States as , pro-Kremlin dailies talk about the “whims and fickleness” of the American partner. In the background, however, it is not just a lost diplomatic opportunity, but a signal of a fundamental change in Washington’s relationship with Moscow. After months of waiting, Trump reached for tougher measures – sanctions against Russian oil giants.
Moscow wants peace, but only according to its own rules
Until recently, the Russian media described with obvious pleasure the idea of a summit between Putin and Trump in Budapest symbolically “in the heart of Europe”, but without the participation of the European Union. In Russian commentary, this notion was often portrayed as a diplomatic slap in the face to Brussels, which was “taken out of the game” in the peace negotiations.
Putin called Washington’s decision regrettable, although he emphasized that Moscow “always prefers dialogue to confrontation or war.” This wording sounds remarkable especially in the context that it is uttered by a representative of a state which itself is waging an offensive war on the territory of a neighboring country.
Nevertheless, even in Russia itself there was no prevailing idea that the Budapest summit, if it took place at all, would bring a result that Moscow would consider a victory. In some Russian newspapers, on the contrary, there were voices calling for the continuation of military operations. For example, the newspaper wrote that “there is not a single reason why Moscow should agree to a cease-fire.”
The official discourse balances between the rhetoric of peace and the attempt to legitimize the continuation of the war. The Kremlin declares its willingness to negotiate, but only under conditions that Kiev and the West consider unacceptable. Moscow understands much more than just the issue of borders by the term “solving the root causes of the conflict”. It is a demand to stop the expansion of NATO towards the east and an effort to reverse the strategic orientation of Ukraine.
Beneath the surface of this rhetoric, it is clear that Russia’s goal remains unchanged: to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence while weakening the unity of the West. In this sense, the summit, however presented as a peace initiative, could serve as a time-buying tool for Moscow rather than a step towards actually ending the war.
How Russian media and experts reinterpret the canceled summit
State television channels unite European countries and Western media for thwarting preparations for the summit, which was supposed to be a “chance for peace” according to official rhetoric.
Flagship station Prevyj kanal opened its coverage with a quote from Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who said that “pro-war political elites and their media always behave this way before events that could decide between war and peace.” In the Russian version, however, a subtle but significant modification appeared – the epithet “European” elite, which Szijjártó did not originally use. According to the investigative portal Agency so Pervyj kanal shifted the wording of the statement so that it fit better into the narrative of the alleged “anti-Russian” Europe.
Other federal television stations followed a similar line. Russia 1 accused the West of trying to “freeze the conflict” instead of achieving lasting peace, interpreting the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for negotiations in Brussels and London as a coordinated effort by the European Union to “block” US-Russian negotiations. The NTV channel, on the other hand, claimed that foreign media “intentionally distort the facts” and that the news about the cancellation of the Budapest summit is “disinformation”.
Under the surface, however, a different reading of events prevails in Russia. According to political scientist Dmitry Suslov, the decision of the Donald Trump administration to cancel the summit and at the same time impose sanctions on Russian energy companies signals an effort to “increase pressure on Moscow” and force it to make concessions in the ceasefire negotiations. According to him, the goal of Washington is clear: to stop the fighting as quickly as possible, even without solving the “basic causes of the conflict”. However, from the Russian point of view, such demands are unacceptable. “Russia will not back down,” analyst.
