Obama Considers Canceling Fall Summit with Putin Over Snowden, Syria, Corruption
Edward and Glenn should be proud of themselves.
The White House is considering canceling a fall summit between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a move that would further aggravate the already tense relationship between the two leaders.
The White House is dangling that option over the Russians as Moscow considers a temporary asylum petition from Edward Snowden, the American accused of leaking information about classified U.S. intelligence programs. But officials have privately signaled that scrapping the bilateral talks would also be retaliation for other areas of disagreement with Russia, including its continued support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s attacks against civilians.
Regardless of what happens with Snowden, the White House says Obama will still attend an international summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. But officials have gone out of their way in recent days to avoid publicly committing to the meetings in Moscow.
“The president intends to travel to Russia for the G20 Summit,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. “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.”
By simply considering cancellation of the trip, the Obama administration is indicating its concern the Kremlin will allow Snowden to take refuge in Russia. The White House has called on Russia to return the 30-year-old former government contractor to the U.S. where he is facing espionage charges.
On Thursday, the White House also said it was “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the conviction of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who challenged the Kremlin with exposures of high-level corruption and mocked the leadership with biting satire. He was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday in a verdict that fueled street protests near Red Square and drew condemnation from the West.