ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — The White House is confirming that President Barack Obama will not attend a major summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Russia.
White House press secretary Jay Carney made official on May 14 what had been assumed for months because the APEC meeting coincides with the Democratic National Convention in September.
Both the United States and Russia deny there is any tit-for-tat involved, since word last week that new Russian President Vladimir Putin would skip an economic meeting that Obama is hosting at the Camp David retreat this weekend.
The U.S. insists it does not feel snubbed.
But there has been speculation in Russia that Putin did not want to appear conciliatory by accepting Obama’s invitation now because it was assumed Obama would skip the meeting Putin will host later in the year.
