Russia continues preparations for possible Putin-Trump meeting - deputy FM

MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Russia continues preparations for a possible Russian-U.S. summit and concentrates on its content instead of schedules and formats, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

"We continue the preparations," Ryabkov told the press on Wednesday.

"We believe that we should focus on the content, and this is what we are doing on the orders given [by the Russian president]," he said.

"Such issues as schedules, formats and sequence of steps are largely derivatives from the content," Ryabkov said.

"Naturally, attempts are being made to present the situation as something different from what it was a week, two or three weeks ago," he said.

"I view this as a deliberate aspiration of the deal's opponents to reduce chances for its conclusion," Ryabkov said.

"We say that preparations for the summit go on. They may have different forms," he said.

Meanwhile, there is no agreement on a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Budapest, Ryabkov said.

"There is no agreement on that score," Ryabkov told journalists when asked to comment on media reports about such a meeting.

"Therefore, I warn in advance those who will again start writing that something 'was canceled' against doing it," he said.