President Trump said on Wednesday that he will not meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia this weekend, contradicting the Kremlin, which said earlier in the day that the two would have a discussion while in Paris for an unrelated gathering of world leaders.
The on-again, off-again meeting has been the subject of confusion and conflicting reports in recent weeks. At one point last month, the two sides indicated that the presidents would meet in Paris, then Mr. Trump said earlier this week that they would probably not, then the Kremlin said Wednesday that they would at least meet briefly during lunch on Sunday.
At a news conference at the White House later Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that was not the case. They would both attend a lunch for world leaders scheduled on Sunday, he said, but were not set to have a conversation.
“I don’t think we have anything scheduled in Paris and I’m coming back very quickly,” the president said. “I don’t think we have time set aside for that meeting.”