Obama-Putin summit may be axed as US rages over asylum for Snowden
AS the row grew over Russia's decision yesterday to give leaker Edward Snowden temporary asylum , it was revealed that America is considering pulling out of a planned September summit between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
SNOWDEN'S new Russian refugee document
White House spokesman Jay Carney acknowledged this after Snowden slipped out of the Moscow airport on Thursday after being granted new refugee documents by the Russians..
In the U.S., lawmakers saw the move as a slap in the face for Obama and called for retaliatory measures, said the Wall Street Journal.
"We are extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful request" to have him expelled, said Carney. "Mr. Snowden is not a whistleblower—he is accused of leaking classified information."
The Putin- Obama meeting was expected to take place before the G20 summit in St Petersburg.
Carney made it clear that U.S. officials had viewed the bilateral meeting between Obama and Putin as important in the drive to find common ground with Russia on foreign-policy - such as ending the war in Syria.
"We are evaluating the utility of a summit," Carney said.
The WSJ said Moscow's decision raised the prospect that the U.S. fugitive will remain in Russia for the foreseeable future, "providing a persistent strain on already turbulent relationship."
Russia's temporary asylum lasts for one year but is renewable. It allows Snowden to live, work and travel in Russia and seek citizenship if he stays in the country for five years.
His Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena said he had "left for a safe place," but did not say where in Russia his client would go.
"He will choose," Kucherena said later on state television. "He can live in a hotel or rent an apartment. Seeing as he is the most wanted person on earth, he today will also be focusing on questions of his own security."
The Kremlin has insisted the 30-year-old former security contractor, wanted by U.S. authorities for leaking NSA documents, cease his "political activities" in order to stay in the country.
Snowden thanked Russia in a statement released by WikiLeaks, "I thank the Russian Federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations,"he said.