Edward Snowden Asylum: US ‘Disappointed’ by Russian Decision
Photo Credit: APBy Alec Luhn in Moscow, Luke Harding, and Paul Lewis. The White House expressed anger and dismay on Thursday after Russia granted temporary asylum to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden and allowed him to leave the Moscow airport where he had been holed up for over a month.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US was “extremely disappointed” by the decision, almost certainly taken personally by President Vladimir Putin. He said Moscow should hand Snowden back and hinted that Barack Obama might now boycott a bilateral meeting with Putin in September, due to be held when the US president travels to Russia for a G20 summit.
Carney added that Snowden had arrived in both China and Russia carrying with him thousands of top secret US documents. He said: “Simply the possession of that kind of highly sensitive classified information outside of secure areas is both a huge risk and a violation.
“As we know he’s been in Russia now for many weeks. There is a huge risk associated with … removing that information from secure areas. You shouldn’t do it, you can’t do it, it’s wrong.”
With US-Russian relations now at a cold war-style low, Snowden slipped out of Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday afternoon. His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said Russia’s federal migration service had granted him temporary asylum for one year. Snowden had left the airport to stay at an undisclosed location with expatriate Americans, he added. Read more from this story HERE.
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White House: Russia gave us no heads up on Snowden
By Lesley Clark. The Obama administration is “extremely disappointed” with Russia’s decision to allow Edward Snowden to leave a Moscow airport — a decision it made without giving the White House a heads up, Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The decision came “despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have Mr. Snowden expelled to the United States to face the charges against him,” Carney said, reiterating the administration’s stance that Snowden is neither a dissident, nor a whistleblower.
“He is accused of leaking classified information and has been charged with three felony counts, and he should be returned to the United States as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process and protections,” Carney said.
He said the US would be in contact with Russian authorities, “expressing our extreme disappointment in this decision, and making the case clearly that there is absolute legal justification for Mr. Snowden to be returned to the United States.”
And he said the U.S. is evaluating whether Obama will attend a planned September meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: APSnowden Reportedly Receives Temporary Asylum in Russia, Leaves Airport
By Fox News. NSA leaker Edward Snowden reportedly has left the Moscow airport and entered Russian territory after receiving refugee status in the country.
His lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday that Snowden had crossed into Russia. Anatoly Kucherena said Snowden was issued papers that allowed him to leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he was stuck since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23.
The American fugitive reportedly has been granted a one-year temporary asylum. A Russian news service also quoted Kucherena as saying that Snowden went to a safe place, but his whereabouts would not be disclosed. Read more from this story HERE.