Putin reacted to Trump's cancellation of meeting in Budapest

The United States initiated negotiations with Russia in Budapest.

As reported by TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed this out when answering questions from Kremlin pool journalists.

"In the last telephone conversation, both the meeting itself and its location were proposed by the American side. And I agreed with this, expressed considerations in this regard and said that, of course, such meetings need to be well prepared. It would be a mistake for me and for the American president to approach this meeting lightly and leave after this meeting without the expected result," said the head of the Russian state, commenting on US President Donald Trump's recent announcement about the cancellation of Russian-American negotiations in Budapest.

According to Putin, Trump also agreed that the summit should be thoroughly prepared, and said that a number of officials from the current US administration would prepare the meeting, naming some of them.

"And I said that after our American colleague determines the final list of those who will work on preparing our meeting, we will also announce on our side who will work from our side, from the Russian side," Putin continued.

The head of the Russian state is convinced that at the first stage, the first steps in this direction should be taken by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In addition, Putin views American sanctions as an unfriendly act that in no way strengthens bilateral relations with the United States.

"If we talk about the political part, then, of course, this is an unfriendly act towards Russia. This is an obvious thing, and it does not strengthen Russian-American relations, which have just begun to recover. Of course, by such actions, the US administration damages Russian-American relations," he said.