Obama Blames Putin for 'anti-U.S. Tone', Lavrov Denies New 'Cold War'

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that Russia has adopted a more anti-American attitude reminiscent of the Cold War since Vladimir Putin returned to office as president.

Obama said relations had thawed somewhat while Dmitry Medvedev was Russian president, but that when Putin returned to the Kremlin he "saw more rhetoric on the Russian side that was anti-American, that played into some of the old stereotypes about the Cold War contest between the United States and Russia."

Obama says he's encouraging Putin to "think forward instead of backwards" in strained relations with the United States.

He says he realizes relations between the two superpowers have been difficult. He says progress was being made until Putin regained the Russian presidency. Now Obama says there have been "a number of emerging differences," including over Syria and human rights.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that relations between his country and the United States have not broken down.

"It's clear there is no Cold War that we should expect," Lavrov said of the U.S.-Russian relations after a meeting in Washington. "We shouldn't expect any aggravation."

The White House this week cancelled a planned summit between Obama and Putin next month in Moscow. That's in part because Russia is refusing to return National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to the U.S. to face charges of leaking national security secrets.