MOSCOW

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump is being arranged, with no major obstacles in the way, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.

"We say that preparations for the summit continue," he said at a press briefing in Moscow. "I do not see any significant obstacles. The question is that the parameters set by the presidents at the summit in Anchorage need to be filled with specifics, and this is a difficult process, I must admit. But that's exactly what diplomats are for."

In response to media reports that Moscow and Washington had exchanged documents on Ukraine in the form of non-papers (closed diplomatic notes), Ryabkov stated, "I cannot confirm that such an exchange took place."

According to US media reports last night, Russia allegedly sent a closed diplomatic note to the US outlining the conditions for reaching a peace agreement on Ukraine.

Ryabkov criticized opponents of Russia-US agreements and leaders' meetings for attempting to spin the situation in their favor.

"There are attempts to present the situation as if it has changed compared to some period—one week, two weeks, or three weeks ago. I attribute this to a deliberate effort by opponents of reaching agreements to reduce their chances of success," he said.

On Oct. 16, following a phone call with Putin, Trump announced plans to meet in Budapest soon. Yury Ushakov, the Russian presidential aide for foreign affairs, added that Moscow and Washington would immediately begin planning for another leaders' meeting, possibly in Hungary's capital city.