US ties outweigh intelligence ‘squabbles’ – Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said bilateral relations with the US are more important than “squabbles between special services”. In his latest comments on fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, Mr Putin said he had been warned against any “activity that harms Russian-American relations”. On Tuesday Mr Snowden applied for temporary asylum in Russia. 

Snowden Standoff Could Sink Obama-Putin Summit
When the Obama administration discusses matters of sensitive diplomacy, it isn’t always a model of clarity. But this week reporters have struggled to get a direct answer to what would seem to be a simple question: Is President Barack Obama still planning to attend a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in early September?  

Russia holds biggest war games in decades
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday watched Russia’s biggest military maneuvers since Soviet times, involving 160,000 troops and about 5,000 tanks across Siberia and the far eastern region in a massive show of the nation’s resurgent military might. Dozens of Russia’s Pacific Fleet ships and 130 combat aircraft also took part in the exercise, which began on Friday and continue through this week.