Russia grants Edward Snowden one year temporary asylum
The NSA whistleblower who was stranded in the Moscow airport sine June 23 has been granted a one-year temporary asylum in Russia today, according to Edward Snowden’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena.
“I have just handed over to him papers from the Russian Immigration Service. They are what he needs to leave the transit zone,” attorney Anatoly Kucherena said, according to Interfax, the Russian news organization.
Kucherena said that Snowden’s whereabouts will be kept secret for security reasons. “He now is one of the most sought after men in the world,” Kucherena told reporters at the airport. “The issue of security is very important for him.”
Response from the White House upon hearing of the news was described as “disappointing”. “We see this as an unfortunate development, and we are extremely disappointed by it,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. The Kremlin acted “despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and private,” he added.
President Vladimir Putin previously said that Snowden could receive asylum in Russia on condition he stops leaking U.S. secrets. Kucherena has said Snowden accepted the condition.
In a statement from Wikileaks, The certificate of temporary asylum by the Russian Federation lasts for one year and affords Mr Snowden the right to live in and travel around Russia, where he can now plan his next steps in safety. On receiving his asylum certificate Mr Snowden said: “Over the past eight weeks we have seen the Obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law, but in the end the law is winning. I thank the Russian Federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations.”
WikiLeaks commends Russia for accepting Snowden’s request and supporting him when many countries felt so compromised by US threats that they could not.
The asylum was granted a day after The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald wrote about the top secret National Security Agency program known as XKeyscore, which is the NSA’s “widest reaching” system developing intelligence from computer networks.
[…] Stone said that admitted NSA leaker Edward Snowden “is a hero to me. He sacrificed his well-being for the good of us all” and that Russia’s Vladimir Putin did the right thing by granting Snowden asylum. […]
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