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A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not completely off the table," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday, despite Trump's cancellation of a planned summit in Budapest.
"I think the president and the entire administration hopes that one day that can happen again but we want to make sure that there's a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting," Leavitt told reporters during a briefing at the White House.
Trump said Wednesday he canceled the summit with Putin because "it didn't feel right" to him. The announcement came as the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, citing Moscow's "lack of serious commitment" to ending the war in Ukraine.
Leavitt emphasized Trump's frustration with the lack of progress from both Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict. "The president has also long expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin and frankly, both sides of this war," she said, adding, "And he's always said, in order to negotiate a good peace deal, both sides need to be interested in a good peace deal."
She stressed that Trump wants to ensure any future meeting with Putin "will be a good use of his time." "The president wants to see action, not just talk," Leavitt said.
Leavitt said Trump has always maintained he would implement sanctions on Russia "when he felt it was appropriate and necessary." She noted that the new sanctions represent Trump's signal that he is willing to take action against Moscow at any time he deems necessary.
On October 16, following a call with Putin, Trump announced plans to meet the Russian president in Hungary within two weeks. That meeting was subsequently canceled.
In Moscow, Putin responded to the new sanctions on Thursday, describing them as "serious" but claiming they would not significantly damage the Russian economy.
"They are serious for us, of course, that is clear. And they will have certain consequences, but they will not significantly impact our economic well-being," Putin told reporters after participating in the plenary session of the 17th Congress of the Russian Geographical Society.
Putin characterized the sanctions as an "unfriendly act" that does not strengthen Russia-U.S. relations, which he said "have only just begun to recover." He noted that Trump imposed "the largest number of sanctions ever imposed" against Russia during his first term in office.
Putin said the sanctions represent an "attempt to exert pressure," but argued that "no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure."
Putin also addressed discussions about supplying long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, calling such plans an "attempt at escalation."
"This is an attempt at escalation, but if all strikes on Russian territory are carried out with such weapons, the response will be very strong, if not overwhelming," Putin said.
Trump dismissed the possibility of supplying Tomahawks to Kyiv on Wednesday, saying the weapons are "complex" for Ukrainian forces to operate without extensive U.S. training.
The U.S. president had indicated earlier this month that he was close to deciding whether to send Tomahawks to Kyiv, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested in September.
Putin previously warned that U.S. provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would "destroy" U.S.-Russian relations and lead to "a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation."
Despite the tensions, Putin appeared open to continued dialogue with the U.S., noting, "Dialogue is always better than confrontation or any disputes, and especially war. We have always supported the continuation of dialogue."
Commenting on Trump's announcement of the summit cancellation, Putin said the U.S. president "most likely" talked about postponing rather than canceling the meeting.
"What can I say? Dialogue is always better than any confrontation, any disputes, or especially war. That's why we've always supported continued dialogue, and we continue to support it now," Putin said.
Putin noted that the U.S. proposed the meeting and its venue but emphasized the importance of proper preparation. "It would be a mistake for both me and the American president to approach this lightly and leave this meeting without the expected result," Putin said.
Putin argued that Russia and the U.S. have "many areas for joint work" if they move toward discussions on the long-term future, including in the economic sphere. "We are generally prepared for this, but as we see it, this depends not only on the Russian Federation but also on our partners, in this case, the Americans," he said.
He added that a decline in the presence of Russian oil and petroleum products on the global market will raise prices, including in the U.S..
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