Russia raps US on Obama-Putin meeting

Russia has slammed the U.S. for raising doubts whether a meeting between U.S. President and his Russian counterpart will be held in September in Moscow after Russia offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the man who leaked top-secret documents on U.S. government spying programs.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency, “The U.S. administration is bringing into question bilateral contact at the highest level. I think this is absolute distortion of reality, it’s looking at the world in a crooked mirror”.
Ryabkov said it was “unclear why the United States is blowing up the situation with Snowden.”
The White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Washington would decide “in coming days” whether President Barack Obama will go ahead with G-20 summit in Moscow in early September.
U.S.-Russia relations have been severely strained by after Moscow decided to grant asylum to Snowden despite U.S. requests not to do so. On August 1st, Carney said White House was “extremely disappointed” at Russia’s decision implying that Obama would reconsider the summit with Putin.