Update: On Wednesday morning, President Obama canceled a planned summit with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, after concluding that there had not been enough progress made on the “bilateral agenda” to make a meeting worthwhile.

President Obama is expected to decide soon whether to proceed with a planned summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow next month. At the moment, the answer should be no.

On top of all the other legitimate grievances with Mr. Putin’s policies came his decision to essentially stick a thumb in Mr. Obama’s eye by granting asylum to Edward Snowden, the man who disclosed to the world the National Security Agency sweeps of Americans’ telephone records. The Obama administration had urged Mr. Putin not to grant Mr. Snowden asylum.

Under the circumstances, the only outcome of a summit meeting would be to add to Mr. Putin’s domestic political capital and his already considerable self-esteem. On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and their Russian counterparts are scheduled to meet to discuss the agenda. It may be that the Russians will offer a substantive reason for having such a meeting.