Obama may cancel Fall summit with Putin over Snowden issue

The US president Barack Obama is reportedly considering cancellation of the Moscow summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's issue.

As Snowden has formally applied for a temporary asylum in Russia, there has been a sense of growing tensions between the two nations.

According to Fox News, Snowden has been charged with espionage for having leaking classified information about the US intelligence and Russia's support for a 'fugitive' has irked the US government.

However, US officials have also indicated that cancelling the bilateral talks would also be a response to Russia's continued support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's attacks against civilians.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama intends to travel to Russia for the G20 summit, while stressing the need for Russia to return Snowden back to US.

Director of the Russia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Andrew Kuchins said that US' cancellation of the Moscow summit could be effective leverage over Putin.

Kuchins further said that while granting Snowden asylum would certainly be the impetus for canceling Obama's Moscow trip, it would not be the only reason and added that Russia will not lose much from the cancellation as there was not much to expect from the summit, the report added.