Snowden seeking political asylum in Russia
Source: Agencies |
July 2, 2013, Tuesday
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National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has asked for political asylum in Russia, a Russian consular official confirmed yesterday, according to the Interfax news agency.
It cited Kim Shevchenko, the duty officer at the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular office in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, as saying that Snowden's representative, Sarah Harrison, handed over his request on Sunday.
Snowden has been in legal limbo in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The US has revoked his passport, and Ecuador, where he had hoped to get asylum, has been coy about offering him shelter.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin says Snowden will have to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, something he says Snowden doesn't want to do.
Putin, speaking after a gas exporters' conference in Moscow, insisted that Snowden isn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him.
He says Snowden considers himself a rights activist, a "new dissident" and compared him to Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.
Speaking eight days after Snowden's arrival at the airport, Putin repeated that Russia had no intention of handing the American over to the United States, which wants him on espionage charges.
For the second time in a week, he said Russian intelligence agencies were not working with Snowden and urged him to leave as soon as possible.
"If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means," Putin said. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips."
Asked about speculation that Snowden might leave with one of the delegations to the conference, whose guests included the presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Putin said he did not know of any such plans.
Meanwhile, facing a European uproar over more US eavesdropping claims, President Barack Obama argued yesterday that it was no surprise governments spy on each other but said the US will provide allies with information about reports that the National Security Agency bugged European Union offices in Washington, New York and Brussels.
The latest revelations were attributed in part to information supplied by Snowden.
Obama also said the US had held "high-level" discussions with Russia to get Snowden out of Moscow and back to the US to face criminal charges.
Obama pushed back against objections from key allies over a report in the German news weekly Der Spiegel that the US installed covert listening devices in EU offices. He suggested such activity by governments is not unusual.
"We should stipulate that every intelligence service ? not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service ? here's one thing that they're going to be doing: they're going to be trying to understand the world better and what's going on in world capitals around the world," he said. "If that weren't the case, then there'd be no use for an intelligence service.
"And I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders," Obama added.
European officials from Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the EU government itself say the revelations could damage negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty.
It cited Kim Shevchenko, the duty officer at the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular office in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, as saying that Snowden's representative, Sarah Harrison, handed over his request on Sunday.
Snowden has been in legal limbo in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The US has revoked his passport, and Ecuador, where he had hoped to get asylum, has been coy about offering him shelter.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin says Snowden will have to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, something he says Snowden doesn't want to do.
Putin, speaking after a gas exporters' conference in Moscow, insisted that Snowden isn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him.
He says Snowden considers himself a rights activist, a "new dissident" and compared him to Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.
Speaking eight days after Snowden's arrival at the airport, Putin repeated that Russia had no intention of handing the American over to the United States, which wants him on espionage charges.
For the second time in a week, he said Russian intelligence agencies were not working with Snowden and urged him to leave as soon as possible.
"If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means," Putin said. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips."
Asked about speculation that Snowden might leave with one of the delegations to the conference, whose guests included the presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Putin said he did not know of any such plans.
Meanwhile, facing a European uproar over more US eavesdropping claims, President Barack Obama argued yesterday that it was no surprise governments spy on each other but said the US will provide allies with information about reports that the National Security Agency bugged European Union offices in Washington, New York and Brussels.
The latest revelations were attributed in part to information supplied by Snowden.
Obama also said the US had held "high-level" discussions with Russia to get Snowden out of Moscow and back to the US to face criminal charges.
Obama pushed back against objections from key allies over a report in the German news weekly Der Spiegel that the US installed covert listening devices in EU offices. He suggested such activity by governments is not unusual.
"We should stipulate that every intelligence service ? not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service ? here's one thing that they're going to be doing: they're going to be trying to understand the world better and what's going on in world capitals around the world," he said. "If that weren't the case, then there'd be no use for an intelligence service.
"And I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders," Obama added.
European officials from Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the EU government itself say the revelations could damage negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty.
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