Snowden Incident Affects the Meeting Between American and Russian Leaders

Since the start of this year, America and Russia have been trying to improve their bilateral relationship, which has deteriorated due to events in Syria and matters such as human rights. After the G-8 summit this June, during which Obama and Putin had a meeting, the leaders are planning to meet again during the G-20 summit to be held in St. Petersburg at the beginning of September. However, the unexpected Snowden incident and the debate between the two presidents on this issue have placed a shadow on the upcoming meeting between Obama and Putin.

On June 23, Edward Snowden, the principal character of the PRISM scandal, left Hong Kong and was stranded at the transit area at the Moscow airport, disturbing the U.S.-Russian relationship. Both parties are engaged in a "game," which is described by some American journalists as a Cold War without gunfire. After receiving news of Snowden’s arrival in Moscow, the White House and the State Department immediately delivered a public warning to Russia, saying that allowing Snowden (whose passport has been revoked and who is charged with spying and other heavy criminal acts) to enter Moscow would complicate the U.S.-Russian relationship, in hopes that Russia would send him back to America at once. Some senior congressmen suspected Russia of taking part in a plot to let Snowden cross the Russian border to enter Moscow and appealed for a harsher attitude and measures from the U.S. toward Putin. Faced with such an accusation, the Russian government did not show any signs of weakness. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that America's accusation was entirely groundless and that Russia could by no means accept it or be threatened by any state. President Putin also pointed out that Snowden did not violate any Russian law and Russia was not planning to extradite him because there is no such agreement between Russia and America.

On June 17, during the G-8 summit held in Northern Ireland, Britain, Obama and Putin had their first meeting after they both took office as president for new terms. Even though they failed to reach an agreement about the Syrian problem, etc., they agreed to expand bilateral contact, including discussing cooperation in fields such as the economy and security at the summit in St. Petersburg. To avert the negative impact that the Snowden incident casts on both, and to create a friendly environment for the second meeting between Obama and Putin this year, both parties are trying not to over-react or to provoke each other after the first round of talks. America appears to understand the fact that there is no legal agreement between them, and that Russia cannot extradite Snowden directly back to the United States. However, it does hope that Russia will expel Snowden. Putin also has shown that Russia does not want Snowden to jeopardize their cooperation. However, further developments of this incident have struck the U.S.-Russian relationship hard, and brought uncertainties to the meeting.

On July 12, Snowden's meeting with representatives of human rights organizations and prestigious lawyers at the transit area created intense discontent for America. On July 16, with the help of international human rights figures and Russian law experts, Snowden submitted his application for asylum to the Russian Federal Migration Service, and also expressed his willingness to stop damaging America's interests. The Russian Federal Migration Service replied that the decision as to whether to accept his application for asylum would be made within three months. Due to a previous announcement by Putin, saying that as long as Snowden stops disclosing more content of America's surveillance plan, which would harm America's interests, Russia would consider letting him stay. Therefore, most analysts think the Migration Service is likely to approve of his application for asylum and to let Snowden stay in Russia for at least one year. This will be an opportunity for Snowden to seek asylum in Latin American countries eventually, but also indicates the aborted scheme of arresting him to send to the United States.

According to an American press release today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney encouraged Russia to reject Snowden's application for asylum and extradite him back to the United States to be subject to judicial judgment. Carney said on today's press conference that America considers the U.S.-Russian relationship to be very important, since cooperation and contact are needed in various fields such as the economy and security. America does not want to see any impediment in their relationship because of Snowden. America is worried about the potential for long-term problems in their relationship with Russia caused by the Snowden incident. The possibility that Obama will cancel his meeting with Putin has not been ruled out by Carney.

Analysts point out that even if Obama and Putin hold the meeting in St. Petersburg as scheduled, the Snowden incident will certainly come up as one of the most important topics of the meeting and might offset the effort to eliminate differences on issues such as Syria and the non-proliferation of nuclear power.