Obama Cancels Meeting with Russian President Putin Over Snowden Asylum

President Obama has cancelled a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to White House officials.

The move comes following Russia offering asylum to National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden. Obama will still be attending the Group of 20 (G20) economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but will attend a stop in Sweden instead of holding one-on-one talks with Putin.

Fox News quotes White House spokesperson Ben Rhodes as saying, We'll still work with Russia on issues where we can find common ground, but it was the unanimous view of the president and his national security team that a summit did not make sense in the current environment.

U.S. markets are lower at the start Wednesday.

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