As US-Russia Summit Is Put on Hold... Russia Blames "Western Media Information Warfare"

As the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly been put on hold, Russia has criticized Western media, blaming excessive information warfare for the situation.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a joint press conference held in Alaska on August 15 (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with local outlet Radio Sputnik on the 22nd (local time), "All of this information is a lie. They spread, modify, and refute information themselves," adding, "All of this could be aimed at supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky through information."

She emphasized that if information confirming the possibility of a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio becomes available, it will be shared. She was pointing out that after Western media, including those in the United States and the United Kingdom, reported that the meeting between the two ministers was canceled, they also claimed the US-Russia summit was postponed.

In fact, after the two ministers discussed preparations for the summit by phone on the 20th, there was no subsequent announcement regarding their meeting, leading to a series of reports about "unusual tensions" between the two countries. Previously, on the 16th, President Trump and President Putin agreed in a phone call to hold a summit in Budapest, Hungary to resolve the Ukraine issue.

Russia has drawn a line, calling this a disruption by Western media. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said at a briefing that day, when asked whether preparations for the US-Russia summit had been halted, "It is clear that the entire situation is surrounded by a lot of gossip and rumors," adding, "Most of it is not true, and there is no news yet," according to TASS News Agency.

The Russian daily Kommersant pointed out, "The reason Russia and the United States are not rushing to hold the Budapest summit is that both countries must come up with a solution together, which involves not only a ceasefire agreement but also territorial issues."