Appropriate to take a pause, says Obama on talks with Russia

Observing that there has always been some tension in the US-Russia relationship after the fall of the Soviet Union, with co-operation in some areas and competition in others, US President Barack Obama said that it is appropriate to take a pause and reassess the ties with Moscow.
As such Obama justified his decision to cancel his one-o-one meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin next month in the aftermath of the Moscow's decision to grant temporary asylum to the former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, who is sought in the US on espionage charges.
"It is probably appropriate for us to take a pause, reassess where it is that Russia's going, what our core interests are, and calibrate the relationship so that we're doing things that are good for the United States and, hopefully, good for Russia as well but recognising that there are just going to be some differences, and we're not going to be able to completely disguise them," Obama told reporters at a news conference yesterday.

However, Obama would be travelling to St Petersburg in Russia to attend the G-20 Summit.
"That's important business in terms of our economy and our jobs and all the issues that are of concern to Americans," he said and added that his decision to not to meet Putin is not because of Snowden episode.
Noting that he has a good personal relationship with Putin, Obama said the Snowden episode is just one more in a number of emerging differences that has been experienced between the two.
"Keep in mind that our decision to not participate in the summit was not simply around Snowden, it had to do with the fact that, frankly, on a whole range of issues where we think we can make some progress, Russia has not moved. And so we don't consider that strictly punitive," he said.

"We're going to assess where the relationship can advance US interests and increase peace and stability and prosperity around the world. Where it can, we're going to keep on working with them, where we have differences, we're going to say so clearly.