President Obama will not travel to Moscow next month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House announced today, citing Russia’s “disappointing decision” to grant asylum to National Security Agency-leaker Edward Snowden and a lack of progress in the U.S.-Russian bilateral agenda.
“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,” Obama told Jay Leno on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” Tuesday. “They didn’t do that with us, and in some ways it’s reflective of some underlying challenges that we’ve had with Russia lately.
The president will still travel to St. Petersburg on Sept. 5-6 to attend the G-20 Summit.
Shortly after announcing it was canceling the Moscow visit, the White House announced that the president would instead travel to Stockholm before going to Russia.
Tags: Obama Cancels Summit With Putin After Russia Grants Asylum to Snowden
