The US and Russia are at odds over a wide range of issues from foreign policy to human rights.
In a news release on Tuesday, the White House announced that the US delegation will instead be led by former Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano at the opening ceremonies and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the closing ceremonies.
White House spokesman Shin Inouye said in a statement the delegation "represents the diversity that is the United States."
"All our delegation members are distinguished by their accomplishments in government service, civic activism, and sports," he added.
The February 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi would be the first time that a US delegation did not include a president, first lady or vice president since the 2000 event in Sydney.
The statement comes as the two countries are at odds over a wide range of issues from foreign policy to human rights.
Moscow's decision to grant one-year political asylum to American whistleblower Edward Snowden has angered American politicians. Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, revealed Washington's massive global spying programs in June. He fled to Hong Kong and then to Russia in order to escape felony charges inside the United States.
Snowden is believed to have illegally downloaded up to 200,000 classified NSA documents.The spying program was criticized by the international community. Brazil and Germany strongly condemned the NSA's surveillance activities.
The US military buildup around Russia and the deployment of the US missile system in Europe is also criticized by Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently expressed his opposition to plans by the US to develop high-precision weapons for use with missile defense systems.
Moscow says the NATO missiles are a threat to Russian national security, calling for guarantees that the missile system will not be aimed against Russia.The White House, however, has refused to assure Kremlin about the case.
Last week, Putin warned that Moscow would never allow any country to overpower Russia in the region.
"No one should have illusions over a possibility of taking military advantage over Russia," Putin said. "We will never allow this."
Reader Comments
Why should Putin or Russia care that America under Obama is hard at work alienating itself?
The US threatens everyone these days, including it's former allies, like India (read the news.)
The current mentality is that of the Kim Jong's in N. Korea.