Russia is refusing to commit to a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which President Trump has encouraged as a next step toward ending the war between their two countries.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued Tuesday that any summit between the leaders should be prepared “step by step, gradually, starting from the expert level and then going through all the necessary stages.”

Lavrov, who attended last week's summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska, made the remarks in an interview with state-run television Rossiya-24.

The foreign minister said the Kremlin is not turning down negotiations with Ukraine and added that the U.S. president has the invitation from Moscow to visit Russia. Trump was accompanied by Secretary of........

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