Brussels confirms that Putin will be able to get to Budapest to meet with Trump

The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will be able to attend talks with the US President Donald Trump in the Hungarian capital Budapest. This follows a statement by European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper during the briefing.

The official noted that the European Union has frozen the assets of Putin and the head of the Kremlin's diplomacy Sergey Lavrov, but never banned them from traveling to the block.

"At the moment, the meeting [in Budapest] is not confirmed. We won't comment on hypothetical scenarios, but if it were to happen purely factually, it would not fall under the travel ban as such," Hipper explained.

Regarding the fact that Russian civilian aircraft are banned from flying over EU member states due to sanctions, the spokesperson noted that each country in the bloc can individually decide to deviate from these restrictions.

• On October 16, Trump held a call with Putin and announced a new meeting on ending the Russian-Ukrainian war in the Hungarian capital Budapest (read more here).
• The next day, the Hungarian foreign minister said that his country had already begun preparations for the meeting and was ready to guarantee the security of the Russian dictator.