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in the clearest indication yet that us/russian relations may be at an all-time low post-cold war, russian leader vladimir putin is staunchly refusing to open a snapchat he received from his us counterpart barack obama. 




<u+201c>if putin opens it, it<u+2019>s a poor political play. it shows he<u+2019>s curious, interested in what obama has to say. by not opening it, he<u+2019>s telling obama and the world that he has something better to do with his time,<u+201d> explained app and politics expert morgan wilde. 




a number of snapchat users have become heavily invested in the ongoing brinkmanship between the two superpowers who are locked in a series of countermeasures in syria, which have left lives of innocent civilians in the balance and with rumours persisting that putin hasn<u+2019>t looked at any western leaders<u+2019> snapchat stories in weeks, the outlook is bleak. 




<u+201c>oh, shit, i didn<u+2019>t realise it was all this serious,<u+201d> said one snapchat user, who had finally begun to understand the full extent of the deterioration of the diplomatic relationship. 




<u+201c>it<u+2019>s one thing to be squabbling over aleppo, and accusations of war crimes, but it really hits home when it<u+2019>s played out on my favourite app,<u+201d> added snapchat user ciaran bergin. 




however, some political commentators have urged people not to read too much into the exchange. 




<u+201c>look, who knows what the snap contained, it could have just been obama with a dog face, his way of reaching out to putin and saying <u+2018>god, it<u+2019>s lonely at the top, isn<u+2019>t it? now, how funny do i look with dog ears and a big tongue?<u+2019> let<u+2019>s not panic about this,<u+201d> shared commentator henrietta norris. 




there is some hope in russia circles that putin was simply taking a day off the app as he<u+2019>s sick of seeing the same 4 or 5 people send snapchats all day long.
us/russian relations sour further as putin refuses to open snapchat from obama
julius hubris