If President Obama's decision to cancel a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled a refusal to engage with Russia on matters of mutual interest, we'd be concerned. Although Russia lacks the superpower status of the now-defunct Soviet Union, it retains a veto on the U.N. Security Council and could still play a constructive role in resolving the civil war in Syria. The two countries also have unresolved bilateral issues.
But it appears that the president's refusal to hold talks with Putin in Moscow next month doesn't in fact constitute a rupture in conversations between the two countries, which will continue at other levels. It's better viewed as a clear but calibrated expression of displeasure over the Russian government's granting of asylum to Edward Snowden and its growing hostility to political dissent, civil rights and the activities on Russian soil of international human-rights groups. Russia also oppresses its gay and lesbian citizens.
Because Obama's decision to cancel the summit doesn't end other contacts between the U.S. and Russia, cynics will say that it is political Kabuki theater and that it won't change any minds in Moscow. Perhaps not, but the president is entitled to register his objections to Russian conduct by actions as well as words.
