United States President Barack Obama may cancel a scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September but the White House assures that the president will attend an international summit in St. Petersburg in the same month.

The U.S. president is considering cancelling the Moscow summit with Putin in protest against Moscow's continued tolerance toward Edward Snowden, who leaked  U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance program of monitoring movements and communications of people.

U.S. Officials have signaled that canceling the meeting with the Russian president would also be retaliation for other areas of disagreement between the two countries including Moscow's continued support for Syrian government under the leadership of President Bashar in its fight against the rebels who are trying to overthrow  his regime.

Officials in recent days are avoiding answering Media questions regarding Obama's trip to Moscow but White House say Obama will surely attend the international summit in St. Petersburg this fall.

"The president intends to travel to Russia for the G20 Summit," said Jay Carney, spokesman of the White House, according to the Voice of America.

"And I have no further announcements to make beyond what we've said in the past about the president's travel to Russia in the fall," added Jay Carney.

President Obama directly spoke to his Russian counterpart earlier this month, urging Moscow to desist from protecting the American whistleblower, who is holed up in the transit zone of Moscow's airport since flying from Hong Kong, following an arrest warrant issued by Washington on charges of espionage and theft of government property.

Conviction of the Russian prominent opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny Thursday, further underscored the deepening divide between Washington and Moscow as the United States pronounced itself "deeply disappointed" at what it called a trend of suppressing dissent and civil society in Russia." Moscow sentenced the opposition leader to five years in jail and the sentence came just a week after Sergei L Magnitsky, a lawyer investigating corruption, died in custody.

"We call on the Russian government to cease its campaign of pressure against individuals and groups seeking to expose corruption, and to ensure that the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of all of its citizens, including the freedoms of speech and assembly, are protected and respected," said Jay Carney.

If Obama cancels his scheduled meeting with Putin, it would likely help Snowden get temporary asylum in Russia and this might in turn affect relationships between the two countries, according to the think tanks.