“Russia’s loss is Sweden’s gain: On Wednesday, the White House revealed that US President Obama will visit Stockholm on September 4-5, on his way to the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. ‘Sweden is a close friend and partner to the United States,’ said the press secretary in a statement. And right now, Russia isn’t. Obama was originally planning to be in Moscow on these dates for talks with President Vladimir Putin — but the Russian leader has been given the brush-off. It seems the Kremlin’s decision to grant asylum to fugitive US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was the final straw.”
