WASHINGTON — The United States is “extremely disappointed” in Russia’s decision to grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the White House said Thursday.
In its first public response to Russia’s move to defy U.S. wishes, the Obama administration said it was not a positive development for U.S.-Russia relations and said that it undermined Russia’s record of law enforcement cooperation with the U.S. The White House added that a planned fall summit between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin is being re-evaluated here.
“We are extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and private that Mr. Snowden be expelled and returned to the United States,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Carney said that Moscow had given the U.S. no advance notice before announcing its decision to grant Snowden asylum for one year. But he added that the U.S. has a wide-ranging relationship with Russia, suggesting the U.S. was reluctant to allow relations to deteriorate too substantially over the American fugitive’s status.