Snowden seeks asylum in Russia
Source: Agencies |
July 17, 2013, Wednesday
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National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has submitted a request for temporary asylum in Russia after three weeks holed up at a Moscow airport, his lawyer said yesterday, claiming he faces persecution from the US government and could face torture or death.
WikiLeaks, the secret-spilling site that has been advising Snowden, and Russia's Federal Migration Service both confirmed the application request. The service is required by law to consider the application within three months, but could do it faster.
"He reached the conclusion that he needs to write an application for temporary asylum, and this procedure has just been done," said Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who met Snowden last Friday along with human rights activists.
"For now he is not going to go anywhere. For now he plans to stay in Russia," he said, adding that if Snowden were granted temporary asylum, he should have the same rights as other citizens and be free to work and travel in Russia.
Unlike political asylum, granting Snowden temporary asylum would not require a decree from President Vladimir Putin, who may hope it is the best option for minimizing damage to US ties without looking weak in the eyes of Russians.
The Kremlin sought to distance Putin from the decision, which is up to immigration officials but widely expected to be in the president's hands.
"If we are talking about temporary asylum, this is an issue not for the president but for the Federal Migration Service," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Siberian city of Chita.
Snowden, who revealed details of a vast US intelligence program to monitor Internet activity, argued in his application that the reason he needs asylum is "he faces persecution by the US government and he fears for his life and safety, fears that he could be subjected to torture and capital punishment," Kucherena said.
Kucherena said he met the former NSA systems analyst in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to give him legal advice and Snowden made the request after the meeting.
Snowden has been stuck there since he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23. He's had offers of asylum from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, but his US passport has been revoked, making going there complicated.
At Friday's airport meeting with Russian rights activists and public figures, including Kucherena, Snowden said he would seek at least temporary refuge in Russia until he could fly to one of the nations that have offered him asylum.
He chose to apply for temporary asylum and not political asylum because the latter takes longer.
Kucherena said Snowden had no immediate plans to leave Russia.
His stay in Russia has strained already chilly relations between Moscow and Washington. Granting him asylum would further aggravate tensions with the US less than two months before Putin and US President Barack Obama are to meet in Moscow and again at the G20 summit in St Petersburg.
Putin on Monday described Snowden's arrival as an unwelcome present foisted on Russia by the US. He said Snowden flew to Moscow intending only to transit to another country but the US intimidated other countries into refusing to accept him, effectively blocking him from flying further.
WikiLeaks, the secret-spilling site that has been advising Snowden, and Russia's Federal Migration Service both confirmed the application request. The service is required by law to consider the application within three months, but could do it faster.
"He reached the conclusion that he needs to write an application for temporary asylum, and this procedure has just been done," said Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who met Snowden last Friday along with human rights activists.
"For now he is not going to go anywhere. For now he plans to stay in Russia," he said, adding that if Snowden were granted temporary asylum, he should have the same rights as other citizens and be free to work and travel in Russia.
Unlike political asylum, granting Snowden temporary asylum would not require a decree from President Vladimir Putin, who may hope it is the best option for minimizing damage to US ties without looking weak in the eyes of Russians.
The Kremlin sought to distance Putin from the decision, which is up to immigration officials but widely expected to be in the president's hands.
"If we are talking about temporary asylum, this is an issue not for the president but for the Federal Migration Service," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Siberian city of Chita.
Snowden, who revealed details of a vast US intelligence program to monitor Internet activity, argued in his application that the reason he needs asylum is "he faces persecution by the US government and he fears for his life and safety, fears that he could be subjected to torture and capital punishment," Kucherena said.
Kucherena said he met the former NSA systems analyst in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to give him legal advice and Snowden made the request after the meeting.
Snowden has been stuck there since he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23. He's had offers of asylum from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, but his US passport has been revoked, making going there complicated.
At Friday's airport meeting with Russian rights activists and public figures, including Kucherena, Snowden said he would seek at least temporary refuge in Russia until he could fly to one of the nations that have offered him asylum.
He chose to apply for temporary asylum and not political asylum because the latter takes longer.
Kucherena said Snowden had no immediate plans to leave Russia.
His stay in Russia has strained already chilly relations between Moscow and Washington. Granting him asylum would further aggravate tensions with the US less than two months before Putin and US President Barack Obama are to meet in Moscow and again at the G20 summit in St Petersburg.
Putin on Monday described Snowden's arrival as an unwelcome present foisted on Russia by the US. He said Snowden flew to Moscow intending only to transit to another country but the US intimidated other countries into refusing to accept him, effectively blocking him from flying further.
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