Bangladesh, Oct. 17 -- Hungary has formally begun preparations to host an upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, marking a dramatic new chapter in European diplomacy and signaling Budapests emergence as an unlikely center for high-stakes peace negotiations.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on October 16 that discussions were underway with the Kremlin regarding logistical and security arrangements for the meeting, which is expected to focus primarily on the war in Ukraine and the broader state of US-Russia relations.

In a Facebook post on October 17, Szijjarto revealed that he had spoken by phone with Yury Ushakov, Putins chief foreign policy aide, and confirmed that &#...