Obama still went to Russia after the Snowden affair.
The White House is considering whether the US President will hold a bilateral meeting with the Russian President.
On August 6, US President Barack Obama confirmed that he would travel to Russia to attend the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, but expressed disappointment over Russia's granting of temporary asylum to former US security agent Edward Snowden.
Speaking on NBC's "The Tonight Show," Obama said that Moscow sometimes behaves like it did during the Cold War.
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US President Obama chats with the host of "The Tonight Show". |
Obama did not mention whether he would have a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A meeting, if it were to happen, would likely involve why Moscow rejected U.S. advice and granted Snowden asylum for a year. The White House said it was considering the role of a bilateral meeting.
Washington wanted Snowden to return to the US to face charges of espionage and revealing US internet and telephone surveillance programs last June.
The US President said of Russia, "Sometimes they fall back into the same state of mind and mindset as during the Cold War."
"I told President Putin that's the past and... we have to think about the future. And there's no reason why we shouldn't cooperate more effectively than we've been doing."
In his remarks on NBC, Obama also stated that the recent threat that prompted the U.S. to close its embassies in the Middle East was very clear.
"It's a reminder that, despite the progress we've made, violent extremism still exists," Obama said. "We have to get it under control."
The U.S. State Department issued a worldwide warning last Friday, alerting all American citizens that al-Qaeda may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Initially announcing the closure of the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, the State Department later decided to close several more embassies.
Relations between Russia and the US deteriorated when Russia decided to grant asylum to former US security employee Edward Snowden on August 1st.
In June 2013, Edward Snowden revealed shocking information. According to him, the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been pursuing a top-secret program since 2007 that allowed them to monitor internet access and eavesdrop on the phone calls of citizens worldwide.
According to VOV - DT