WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama considers cancelling his planned trip to Moscow for participating in the upcoming G20 summit over disagreements regarding former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
The White House has yet to confirm whether Obama’s visit to Moscow will be canceled.
On Wednesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney seemed to be intentionally vague when asked to confirm the claims.
“I can say that the president intends to travel to Russia for the G20 summit. I don’t have anything to add to what we’ve said in the past about that trip,” said Carney when questioned specifically on the Moscow stopover.
On June 17, the White House announced that the President Obama would attend the G20 summit in Russia in September.
The policy change came after the Kremlin refused to send back Snowden, who fled to Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23, to the United States.
The Obama administration has repeatedly warned Russia about consequences of Snowden’s case.
“The Russian government has an opportunity here to work with us,” Carney said on Tuesday.
“This should not be something that causes long-term problems for US-Russian relations.”
Moscow could “resolve this situation that they have been dealing with now for three weeks” by turning over Snowden or at least expelling him, he said.
