President Obama will cancel a planned meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid mounting anger over Russia’s decision to allow National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden into the country, a White House official confirmed Wednesday.
Obama had intended to visit Russia’s capital and meet with Putin in in advance of next month’s G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. But Obama has decided he will not meet with Putin one-on-one -- a rare diplomatic snub -- and will only attend the G-20 summit.
The news, first reported Wednesday morning by the Associated Press, was confirmed by a White House official.
For weeks, the White House had signaled it was considering canceling the Putin meeting as a diplomatic rebuke for Russia’s decision to grant Snowden asylum there. In addition, there have been mounting tensions between the two countries over missile defense systems and the conflict in Syria.
On Tuesday, Obama told Jay Leno of “The Tonight Show” that he was frustrated by Russia’s protection of Snowden, but that the two countries must work together.
“I was disappointed,” Obama said of Russia’s decision. “Even though we don’t have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally we have tried to respect if there’s a law breaker or alleged law breaker in their country, we evaluate it, and we try to work with them.”
In the Leno interview, Obama added, “There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality. What I continually say to them and to President Putin -- that’s the past.”
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who last week urged Obama to cancel his bilateral meeting with Putin and to recommend moving the G-20 summit to a different country, said in a statement Wednesday that Obama “clearly made the right decision.”
“President Putin is acting like a school-yard bully and doesn’t deserve the respect a bilateral summit would have accorded him,” Schumer said.
Obama had intended to visit Russia’s capital and meet with Putin in in advance of next month’s G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. But Obama has decided he will not meet with Putin one-on-one -- a rare diplomatic snub -- and will only attend the G-20 summit.
The news, first reported Wednesday morning by the Associated Press, was confirmed by a White House official.
For weeks, the White House had signaled it was considering canceling the Putin meeting as a diplomatic rebuke for Russia’s decision to grant Snowden asylum there. In addition, there have been mounting tensions between the two countries over missile defense systems and the conflict in Syria.
On Tuesday, Obama told Jay Leno of “The Tonight Show” that he was frustrated by Russia’s protection of Snowden, but that the two countries must work together.
“I was disappointed,” Obama said of Russia’s decision. “Even though we don’t have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally we have tried to respect if there’s a law breaker or alleged law breaker in their country, we evaluate it, and we try to work with them.”
In the Leno interview, Obama added, “There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality. What I continually say to them and to President Putin -- that’s the past.”
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who last week urged Obama to cancel his bilateral meeting with Putin and to recommend moving the G-20 summit to a different country, said in a statement Wednesday that Obama “clearly made the right decision.”
“President Putin is acting like a school-yard bully and doesn’t deserve the respect a bilateral summit would have accorded him,” Schumer said.