Barack Obama unhappy about Edward Snowden asylum

US president Barack Obama has spoken out for the first time over Russia granting temporary asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The president said he was “disappointed” and that said the move reflected the “underlying challenges” he faces in dealing with Moscow.

It comes as US officials confirmed high-level talks with Russia will go ahead as planned on Friday, despite Mr Snowden’s asylum, which was granted in defiance to White House demands he be sent home to face espionage charges.

The former US government contractor leaked details about a secret data-gathering programme from American citizens.

The US state department said Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will hold talks with their Russian counterparts in Washington. Issues that will come under scrutiny are expected to include the Syrian conflict and Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Obama is due to visit Russia himself in September. Speaking in a TV interview yesterday, Mr Obama confirmed he would attend an international summit in St. Petersburg, but he did not say whether he planned to attend separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

He told The Tonight Show on NBC: “There have been times where [Russia] slip[s] back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality.”

But he added: “What I say to President Putin is, that’s the past and... we’ve got to think about the future. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.”

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying the White House had an “utter distortion of reality” to have wobbled over talks because of the situation with Mr Snowden.

He said Russia did not understand why the situation with Snowden was “being so blown out of proportion in the United States.”