Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear Wednesday that he holds his country’s relationship with the United States in higher esteem than he does former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Reuters reported.
When a reporter asked if the Snowden case would negatively affect a September summit between the U.S. and Russia in Moscow, Putin responded that “bilateral relations, in my opinion, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of the secret services,” according to Reuters.
“We warned Mr. Snowden that any action by him that could cause damage to Russian-American relations is unacceptable for us,” he added, as quoted by Reuters.