Snowden stays out of sight as saga drags on
Source: Agencies |
June 27, 2013, Thursday
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A FORMER US spy agency contractor sought by Washington on espionage charges appeared yesterday to be still in hiding at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, and Russia's national airline said he was not booked on any of its flights over the next three days.
Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong after leaking details of secret US government surveillance programs, then flew on to Moscow on Sunday, evading a US extradition request. President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he was in the transit area of the airport and he had no intention of handing him to Washington.
"They are not flying today and not over the next three days," an Aeroflot representative at the transfer desk at Sheremetyevo said when asked whether Snowden and his legal adviser, Sarah Harrison, were due to fly out yesterday. "They are not in the system."
Snowden has not been seen in public, but Russian officials say he is at the airport, awaiting a response to an appeal for asylum in Ecuador. The logical route to be taken - and one for which he at one point had a reservation - would be an Aeroflot flight via Havana.
The choice of alternative flights, while the United States presses other countries not to take him in or to arrest him on arrival, would be limited.
Putin denied Snowden was being interviewed by Russian intelligence and said any US accusations that Moscow was aiding him as "ravings and rubbish." That prompted a new extradition demand by Washington, which said there was a "clear legal basis" to do so.
WikiLeaks gave a terse update on Snowden's condition later yesterday, saying in a statement posted to Twitter suggesting it had just received an update on him and that he was "safe and well."
The row threatens to further fray ties between the United States and Russia, which have argued over human rights and Putin's treatment of opponents, and have squared off over Syria conflict in the UN Security Council.
Ecuador said it could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to Snowden, and the Latin American country's relations with the US would be one of the factors considered.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.
Asked if Ecuador would provide protection to Snowden while considering his request for asylum, Patino said that if Snowden "goes to the embassy, then we will make a decision."
Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong after leaking details of secret US government surveillance programs, then flew on to Moscow on Sunday, evading a US extradition request. President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he was in the transit area of the airport and he had no intention of handing him to Washington.
"They are not flying today and not over the next three days," an Aeroflot representative at the transfer desk at Sheremetyevo said when asked whether Snowden and his legal adviser, Sarah Harrison, were due to fly out yesterday. "They are not in the system."
Snowden has not been seen in public, but Russian officials say he is at the airport, awaiting a response to an appeal for asylum in Ecuador. The logical route to be taken - and one for which he at one point had a reservation - would be an Aeroflot flight via Havana.
The choice of alternative flights, while the United States presses other countries not to take him in or to arrest him on arrival, would be limited.
Putin denied Snowden was being interviewed by Russian intelligence and said any US accusations that Moscow was aiding him as "ravings and rubbish." That prompted a new extradition demand by Washington, which said there was a "clear legal basis" to do so.
WikiLeaks gave a terse update on Snowden's condition later yesterday, saying in a statement posted to Twitter suggesting it had just received an update on him and that he was "safe and well."
The row threatens to further fray ties between the United States and Russia, which have argued over human rights and Putin's treatment of opponents, and have squared off over Syria conflict in the UN Security Council.
Ecuador said it could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to Snowden, and the Latin American country's relations with the US would be one of the factors considered.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.
Asked if Ecuador would provide protection to Snowden while considering his request for asylum, Patino said that if Snowden "goes to the embassy, then we will make a decision."
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