Russian News Agency: Edward Snowden Asks For Asylum In Russia -- Mediaite

[bsteadman]

Russian News Agency: Edward Snowden Asks For Asylum In Russia

Mediaite
Noah Rothman
7/1/2013

Excerpt:

According to the Associated Press, the Russian News agency Interfax is reporting that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has asked for asylum in Russia. A Russian consular official confirmed the news on Monday.

Interfax reports that Snowden’s legal advisor and Wikileaks attorney, Sarah Harrison, submitted Snowden’s request for Russian asylum to the Russian Foreign Ministry consular office at the airport where he has been for more than a week.

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[bsteadman]

Snowden Applies for Asylum in Russia

Newsmax
Sandy Fitzgerald
7/1/2013

Excerpt:

Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia, a Russian immigration source close to the matter said on Monday.

The source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said a Wikileaks activist who is traveling with Snowden handed his application to a Russian consulate in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday.

On Monday Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, which he claimed Snowden doesn't want to do.

"He must stop his work aimed at damaging our American partners, as odd as it may sound from me," Putin said, according to USA Today.

Putin, speaking at a news conference, insisted that Snowden isn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies have not contacted him.

Putin continued to refuse President Barack Obama's demands that Snowden, who leaked details about the NSA's surveillance efforts both in the United States and Europe, be returned back to the United States to face espionage charges.

"Russia has never extradited anyone and is not going to do so," Putin said. Russia has traded foreign exchange employees for those detained, arrested and sentenced in Russia, but doesn't extradite people back to their native countries to face charges there.
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[bsteadman]

Snowden seeks asylum in Russia

The Hill
Amie Parnes and Ian Swanson
7/1/2013

Excerpt:

Edward Snowden reportedly sought asylum in Russia on Monday amid signs the U.S. and Russia were looking for a way to end the standoff over the 30-year-old leaker of U.S. security secrets.

Fox News reported Snowden's request for asylum was given to Russian officials by Sarah Harrison, a representative for WikiLeaks. Fox cited a report by the InterFax News Agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday suggested Snowden could stay in Russia, but that he must “stop his work aimed at harming our American partners.”

"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," Putin told reporters at a gas exporters' conference in Moscow, according to Reuters. "If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means," Putin said.

Reuters — quoting Russia’s RIA news agency — reported Monday that Obama and Putin have told their security services to resolve the standoff over Snowden.

President Obama confirmed those reports Monday at a press conference in Africa where he said there are “high level discussions” underway with Russia to find a solution over the extradition of Snowden. Obama said he was “hopeful” that Russia would make the right decision on Snowden, who has leaked out a string of documents revealing National Security Agency spying campaigns.

Snowden is holed up in Moscow’s airport after flying from Hong Kong. He is believed to be in an international part of the airport, and according to Russia, has not entered its territory.

Russia is not the only country where Snowden is seeking asylum.

Snowden met Monday with Russian diplomatic officials at the Moscow airport, handing over a request for political asylum to 15 separate countries, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A Russian Foreign Ministry source described the gesture to the paper as a "desperate measure on his part" after Ecuador pulled Snowden's political protection credentials following comments by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The official did not say which 15 countries Snowden has requested asylum from.

Over the weekend, Putin said Russia ruled out handing Snowden over to the United States. Putin said that Snowden was "not a Russian agent" and that Russian intelligence services weren't working with him, according to Reuters.

He said that Snowden should choose his final destination and travel there, but also offered some compliments to the National Security Agency leaker.

Putin said he considered Snowden to be a rights activist, calling him a "new dissident," according to The Associated Press, and compared him to Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.

Speaking at a news conference in Africa, Obama told reporters the U.S. has “gone through regular law enforcement channels with the requests” regarding Snowden. He noted that Snowden traveled to Russia “without a valid passport, without legal papers.”

The comments from Putin and Obama follow news stories published Monday about alleged U.S. spying on the European Union.

Stories published in The Guardian and Der Spiegel said the U.S. National Security Agency had done surveillance on European Union offices in New York; Washington, D.C., and Brussels.

Obama did not confirm nor deny the reports in his comments on Monday.

“We're still evaluating the article because the problem is that these things come out in dribs and drabs and we don't know necessarily what programs they're referring to,” Obama said. “We don't know how they're sourced. What I've said to my team is take a look at this article, figure out what they may or may not be talking about, and then what we'll do is we'll communicate to our allies appropriately.”
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[bsteadman]

Snowden hits hurdles in search for asylum

Associated Press
Nataliya Vasilyeva
7/2/2013

Excerpt:

MOSCOW (AP) -- NSA leaker Edward Snowden's best chance of finding refuge outside the United States may hinge on the president of Venezuela, who was in Moscow on Tuesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela told Russian reporters on Tuesday that his country has not received an application for asylum from Snowden and dodged the question of whether he would take Snowden away with him. But Maduro also defended the former National Security Agency contractor who released sensitive documents on U.S. intelligence-gathering operations.

"He did not kill anyone and did not plant a bomb," Maduro said ahead of his meeting with Putin, the Interfax news agency reported. "What he did was tell a great truth in an effort to prevent wars. He deserves protection under international and humanitarian law."
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