US President Barack Obama was due to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next month, but the rift created after Russia granted asylum to American whistleblower Edward Snowden now means that he'll be meeting with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt instead.
Obama will travel to Stockholm and meet with Thorning-Schmidt, Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg, Icelandic PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, and Finnish president Sauli Niinistö.
The meetings will take place September 4-5, and according to a press release from the Prime Minister's Office, they will focus on shared foreign policy, international growth and development, as well as green energy and climate change.
Thorning-Schmidt's audience with Obama comes after the American president called off a scheduled meeting with Putin following Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to Snowden. The White House characterised Russia's decision as "disappointing" and said there was "not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia" to hold a summit. Despite calling off the meeting, the White House said that Obama remains committed to attending the G20 Leaders' Summit in St Petersburg on September 5-6.
The last time Thorning-Schmidt met officially with Obama was in February, when the two leaders held a 40-minute meeting at the White House in which they discussed the economy, the ongoing conflict in Syria and even found time to share parenting advice.
