Russia: Putin

Putin: Obamas comments came just two days after cancelling a planned summit with Putin next month , and as senior U.S. and Russian officials met at the State Department to look at areas in which co-operation is possible. Those officials put a brave face on the badly strained ties and said the meeting produced some tangible results on the military front and on the push to forge a political solution to the crisis in Syria, among other issues, according to The Star. I ve encouraged Mr. Putin to think forward as opposed to backward on those issues, with mixed success, he told reporters. He said he decided not to attend the summit because Russia has not moved on a range of issues where the U.S. would like to see progress. He said his unhappiness with Russia granting asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden was one reason, but not the only one, for his decision and WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said Friday he was reassessing the U.S. relationship with Russia because of a growing number of issues on which the two countries differ, and he lamented what he called his mixed success in trying to persuade Russian leader Vladimir Putin to abandon a Cold War mentality. Obama said Putins return to the Kremlin last year had brought about more rhetoric on the Russian side that was anti-American, that played into some of the old stereotypes about the Cold War contest between the United States and Russia. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.