Tehran, YJC. -- US President Barack Obama on Wednesday scrapped a Moscow summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, with the White House citing inadequate progress in relations and disappointment over the Edward Snowden affair.
The rare decision to cancel the talks set for next month came after Obama accused the Russians of slipping back "into a Cold War mentality," in an interview aired late Tuesday.
Washington, however, did not slam the door on cooperation with Russia, noting that a meeting of foreign and defense ministers scheduled for later this week would go ahead as planned in the US capital.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said it was "disappointed" with the decision, saying Washington was not ready to build ties with Russia on an "equal basis," and insisted the invitation to Obama still stands.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United States valued what had been accomplished with Russia in Obama's first term, especially on Afghanistan and North Korea, but a summit in early September was not on.
"Given our lack of progress on issues such as missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society in the last 12 months, we have informed the Russian government that we believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda," Carney said.