MOSCOW: Russia has said that it is disappointment by US President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel a planned visit to Moscow in early September for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are disappointed by the US administration’s decision to cancel the visit of President Obama to Moscow that was planned for the beginning of September,” Putin’s top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.
“It is clear that the decision is related to the situation around the former intelligence agency employee Snowden – something that was created not by us,” he said.
Ushakov said the situation showed that the United States was still not ready for relations on an equal basis with Russia but said the invitation for Obama to visit still stood.
“This problem emphasises that the United States, as before, is not ready to build relations on an equal basis,” said Ushakov, accusing the United States of thwarting the signing of a bilateral extradition agreement.
“We are ready to work further with the American partners on all key questions on the bilateral and multilateral agenda,” he added.
Obama is still set to visit Russia for the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg but he had been scheduled to hold a meeting with Putin in Moscow ahead of that event.
