Putin opts out of G-8 summit, cancels meeting with Obama

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FOX News:

Just days after reclaiming the Russian presidency, Vladimir Putin has canceled his planned visit to the United States, where he'd been scheduled to attend a major economic summit and meet with President Obama.

 

The White House confirmed in a statement late Wednesday that Putin told Obama on a phone call he'd be sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place. Putin claimed he was too busy finalizing cabinet appointments to make the May 18-19 G-8 Summit at Camp David. Yet the Obama administration had moved the gathering to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland from the planned venue in Chicago partly to accommodate Putin.

 

Whether or not the schedule change marked an intentional snub, the let-down comes less than a week after the nation's military chief of staff warned that Russia would consider preemptive strikes, if a dispute with the United States over a Europe-based missile defense system worsens.