Putin urged President Barack Obama not to rush into a decision and to consider whether strikes would be worth the civilian casualties they would inevitably cause. Schumer calls Putin a 'school-yard bully'

Russian President Vladimir Putin is nothing more than a “school-yard bully” and President Barack Obama should cancel their meeting in Moscow next month, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) said Sunday.

Last week, Putin granted National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden temporary political asylum in Russia, prompting outrage from many U.S. officials, including Schumer.

“The relationship between the United States and Russia is more poisonous than any time since the Cold War because of all of this,” Schumer said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

“Putin’s behaving like a school-yard bully,” he added. “Unless you stand up to that bully, they ask for more and more and more. Always going out of his way, Mr. Putin is, to poke us in the eye with Iran and Syria, now with Snowden.

“I would urge the president not to go to the bilateral meeting next month. That would give Putin the kind of respect he doesn’t deserve.”

The White House is reconsidering the Putin-Obama meeting but has announced no decision on it.