U.S. President Barack Obama is cancelling his planned meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for next month in Moscow, an administration official said on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has repeatedly expressed disappointment after Moscow granted asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, rejecting U.S. pleas to hand him over to face espionage charges.
On Tuesday President Barack Obama had said
that he was "disappointed" that Russia had granted temporary
asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, defying the Obama
administration's demands that the former government contractor be sent back to
the US to face espionage charges.
Obama, in his first comments
about Snowden since Russia's decision last week, said the move reflected the
"underlying challenges" he faces in dealing with Moscow.
"There have been times where
they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality," Obama
said during an interview with NBC's "The Tonight Show."
Snowden, an ex-NSA systems
analyst, is accused of leaking details about highly-secretive government
surveillance programs. He spent several weeks in the transit zone of a Moscow
airport before being granted asylum for a year.
Obama also criticized a new
Russian law cracking down on gay rights activism, saying he has "no
patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgendered
persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them."
Russia has said it will enforce
the law when it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Asked whether the law
would impact the games, Obama said he believes Putin and Russia have "a
big stake in making sure the Olympics work."
Reactions:
U.S. President Barack Obama's
decision to cancel a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is
disappointing, a top Kremlin foreign policy aide said on Wednesday.
Speaking with reporters in a phone
conference, Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the move was caused
by a dispute between the two countries over ex-U.S. spy agency contractor
Edward Snowden, to whom Russia granted temporary asylum last week.
He added Russia's invitation for Obama to
visit Russia was still in force.
AP/REUTERS