BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The White House is considering cancelling a summit between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The White House is dangling that option over the Russians as Moscow considers a temporary asylum request from Edward Snowden, the American accused of leaking information about classified US intelligence programs. Regardless of what happens with Snowden, the White House says Obama will still attend an international summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.

White House officials have gone out of their way to avoid publicly committing to the meetings in Moscow, but privately signalled that scrapping the bilateral talks would also be retaliation for other areas of disagreement with Russia, including its continued support for Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

(Source: CNTV.cn)