Disputes Lead Obama to Back Out Of Russian Summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — The common ground between the U.S. and Russia — and between Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin — has been shrinking steadily in spite of the much-touted "reset" of relations between the old Cold War foes.

And it just got even smaller.

The latest blow to improving relations came Wednesday when Obama, annoyed with Putin's decision to grant temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, canceled a face-to-face summit with the Russian leader.

While U.S. and Russian foreign and defense ministers will sit down in Washington later this week, Obama won't be going to Moscow in September.

The Snowden decision was only the final straw in disputes that the White House cited for a lack of "recent progress" in announcing that the summit planned for next month is off.