Snowden asylum puts US-Russia ties under stress

Russia on Thursday granted fugitive American intelligence leaker Edward Snowden one-year asylum, a move that could worsen the already tense US-Russia ties and put in question a planned summit of the two countries' presidents.

The White House on Thursday expressed "extreme disappointment" at Russia's decision to give Snowden temporary asylum and said Washington was evaluating a scheduled presidential summit in September.

"We are extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step, despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have Mr. Snowden expelled to the United States to face the charges against him," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a daily press briefing.

"This move by the Russian government undermines a long-standing record of law enforcement cooperation, cooperation that has recently been on the upswing since the (April 15) Boston Marathon bombings," he added.

Snowden, who had been marooned at the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival there on June 23, left earlier Thursday for a safe place in Russia after being granted temporary asylum for one year by the Russian Federal Migrant Service.

The 30-year-old former American spy agency contractor was revoked of his passport and charged with espionage, theft and unauthorized communication of national defense and intelligence information, following his disclosure in early June of massive secret phone and Internet surveillance programs of the US National Security Agency.

Moscow's refusal to budge on Washington's demand for the return of Snowden has aggravated its relations with the United States, which were already strained amid differences over Syria.

The White House has refused to talk about a planned summit between President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, when he travels to Russia in September for a Group of 20 meeting in St. Petersburg.

"I don't have a scheduling announcement for you today, but obviously this is not a positive development," Carney said. "And we have a wide range of interests with the Russians, and we are evaluating the utility of a summit."

But he said US-Russian relationship is based on "realism," and Obama's efforts to "reset" bilateral ties during his first term has produced "positive benefits" for the United States, including Russia's cooperation on Afghanistan and Iran and the signing of a New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Yuri Ushakov, a Russian presidential aide, on Thursday sought to downplay the impact on relations between the two countries.

Moscow was aware of the atmosphere created in the United States over Snowden, but had not received "any signals" regarding the cancellation of Obama's visit to Russia in September, Ushakov said.

"This issue (of Snowden asylum) isn't significant enough to have an impact on political relations," he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

President Putin, calling Snowden "a transit passenger" who had arrived in Russia without invitation, has repeatedly said Moscow is not going to harm its relations with Washington.

According to the president, the relationship between Russia and the United States "is more important than any intelligence scandal."

Russian experts believed the possible impact of the event on Russia-US ties was foreseeable, as Snowden would have crossed the Russian border sooner or later and the United States was unlikely to take any steps that would seriously harm bilateral ties.

"Of course, the US will increase their pressure on Russia, but they are quite limited in the choices or tools for such a situation," said Veronika Krasheninnikova, director of the Russian Institute of Foreign Policy Studies and Initiatives.

The two sides would "not worsen relations below a certain level, because the US needs Russia more than Russia needs the US," referring to issues such as Iran, Syria and others, said the expert.

Sergei Karaganov, a political analyst with the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Xinhua that Russian authorities had now taken "a sort of timeout to think what to do with him (Snowden), how to get out of the trap."

He said Snowden had to keep his word, that is, not to release information against US interests, if he did not want to be expelled.