(MENAFN) Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that a new US sanctions package targeting Russia is on hold until the White House gives its approval, according to reports.

Thune’s remarks came hours after a White House official confirmed that plans for President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary had been postponed. On Monday, Thune had tied the sanctions package to the outcome of that planned summit.

"We want to put it on the floor when the White House believes it’s useful to them to get Putin to the table, and to get a deal that ends the war. So we’re prepared to act," Thune told reporters after meeting Trump for lunch at the White House. "We want to do everything we can to support the president, his team's efforts and the efforts of our allies to bring this, the bloodshed to an end in a peaceful conclusion."

The sanctions package is widely expected to pass quickly once introduced, already counting 85 co-sponsors in the 100-member Senate. The only missing component is the president’s green light.

Earlier Tuesday, a White House official described a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as “productive,” but noted that the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, originally announced on October 16, has been canceled. The meeting had been planned to take place within two weeks, with Rubio and Lavrov expected to finalize details.

The sudden postponement appears linked to Russia’s refusal to agree to Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, which would maintain current frontlines in the Kremlin’s ongoing war. Lavrov told reporters that such an insistence contradicts previous commitments made by Russian and US leaders during an August summit in Alaska.

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