Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement on the White House’s decision to cancel a bilateral meeting with Russia President Vladimir Putin prior to the start of next month’s G20 Summit.

“The President was absolutely right to cancel his meeting with Putin. Russia’s decision to grant Snowden temporary asylum was a deliberate provocation – and one I believe was designed to further undermine U.S.-Russia relations, which have already suffered from Russian intransigence on a number of other important issues. While our ties with Moscow are certainly important, we must show Russia that its harboring of a wanted fugitive like Edward Snowden will negatively affect our relationship.”