OBAMA CONSIDERING CANCELING TALKS WITH PUTIN OVER SNOWDEN
The White House is considering canceling a scheduled fall summit between President Barack Obama
and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move would most likely
further aggravate the already tense relationship between the two
countries. The White House is dangling the idea over the Russians as
Moscow considers granting temporary asylum to Edward Snowden, the NSA
whistleblower.
Officials
from the White House are implying that scrapping the bilateral talks
would also be retaliation for other disagreements with Russia, including
the country’s continued support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The
White House says regardless of what happens with Snowden in Russia,
Obama will still attend the international summit in St. Petersburg.
“The
president intends to travel to Russia for the G20 Summit,” said White
House spokesman Jay Carney. “And I have no further announcements to make
beyond what we’ve said in the past about the president’s travel to
Russia in the fall.” Officials have pointedly avoided publicly
committing to the Moscow meetings.