The author of the Resurgam Telegram channel discussed the issue.Three theories may explain the Washington Post article:The article is fake, created to hype the story and get more views.Putin manipulated Trump, speaking ambiguously so he misunderstood, thinking it referred to non-occupied territories.It was a White House leak to protect Trump’s image, justifying his actions while the media noise overshadowed the story.Trump fell for the same thing as Witkoff: the supposed Kremlin withdrawal from territories it cannot occupy, and possibly a single new concession regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and U.S. business involvement.However, there is a key difference this time. Previously, Witkoff prepared the “proposals” for Alaska, overvaluing Kremlin concessions that didn’t exist, and later tried to justify his mistake using Kremlin arguments. This time, Marco Rubio will prepare the proposals, and the first Rubio–Lavrov meeting aims to verify the Kremlin’s claims.In addition, Hungary is not neutral, the author believes. According to Resugrna, Viktor Orbán wants to derail the negotiations, and the Kremlin is using the situation to buy time. The Hungarian prime minister aims to fulfill several objectives: 1) serve Putin, 2) push a domestic anti-Ukraine/EU narrative, and 3) distract Trump from Russian energy talks.“The Kremlin is interested in derailing the Budapest negotiations by trying to shift the blame onto Brussels and Kyiv, so that for Trump it appears the failure was not due to the Kremlin 'lying' or 'manipulating,' but because Europe and Ukraine 'want war and are escalating,'” the author noted.This also offers a possible explanation for the actions of the Hungarian foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who stated that European leaders “will do everything to derail the meeting.”“In fact, Orbán and Putin are now most interested in derailing the negotiations and shifting the blame, amid the ‘dealing of cards,’ where the inconvenient Rubio was assigned to the preparatory meeting to 'filter' the Kremlin’s proposals — the very ones the Kremlin knows do not exist,” the author concluded.