US-Russia back to cold war days?
The US reacted with anger and disappointment on Thursday after Russia granted NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum, letting him leave his airport home of over a month.
The US reacted with anger and disappointment on Thursday after Russia granted NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum, letting him leave his airport home of over a month.
White House press secretary Jay Carney expressed “extreme disappointment” over the development and indicated a possible summit meeting may be the first casualty as a result.
In an escalation of tensions reminiscent of cold war days, President Barack Obama may skip meeting President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in St Petersburg in September.
The US was “evaluating the utility” of that meeting, Carney said. Also in jeopardy was a 2+2 meeting of the defense and state department secretaries with their Russian counterparts.
Moscow’s decision to grant Snowden asylum is also being seen as a rebuff to Obama specially after he had personally called Putin to make the case for the US.
Adding to what is being seen here as a cold war-style low in relations between the two countries, were US lawmakers demanding strong retaliatory action.
Democrat Robert Menendez, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, called the development a “setback to US-Russia relations”.