WASHINGTON — President Obama is even less likely to go through with a visit to Moscow this fall after Russia’s decision on Thursday to grant Edward J. Snowden temporary asylum. For Mr. Obama, though, the Snowden affair is only one of myriad reasons to beg off the scheduled meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin.

The dispute over Mr. Snowden, the fugitive intelligence contractor, is less a singular sore point between the United States and Russia than a symptom of a relationship that has soured across the board. Even without it, administration officials and analysts said, it was not clear what Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin would talk about — let alone agree on.

From the Syrian civil war and Iran’s new president to missile defense and nuclear arms reductions, the United States and Russia are miles apart on virtually every major issue they discuss.

The White House, which began debating last month whether to cancel the September trip, said Mr. Obama still had not made a final decision. “Obviously this is not a positive development,” said the White House spokesman, Jay Carney. “We are evaluating the utility of a summit.”