US President Barack Obama has cancelled his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that was planned for next month, the White House said Wednesday.
“Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia summit in early September,” the White House said in a statement, Xinhua reported.
However, it also cited Russia’s decision to grant asylum to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden as one of the reasons for the decision.
“Russia’s disappointing decision to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor that we considered in assessing the current state of our bilateral relationship,” the statement said.