U.S., Russia Play Waiting Game over Snowden
U.S. authorities have stopped pushing Russia to extradite U.S. leaker Edward Snowden, who has been holed up in a Moscow airport for almost three weeks, with the two sides now playing a waiting game, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.
"Unlike in the first stage..., the Americans have stopped turning to the Russian side with some kind of request," a source familiar with the situation was quoted as saying by the agency.
"There has not been any request either through official or unofficial channels for several days now," the source told the agency.
"All the interested parties have gone into a wait-and-see mode and the process related to the U.S. request about his extradition has gone on the backburner."
"From all appearances, each side is hoping to come out of this complicated, dead-end situation without losing face."
Stranded in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23, Snowden has applied for asylum in 27 countries in a bid to evade U.S. justice for disclosing the existence of Washington's electronic surveillance operations on a global scale.
U.S. reporter Glenn Greenwald, who is believed to have been in touch with Snowden in the past days, told Agence France Presse "he's anxious about the next step...but feels really good about the debate he provoked".
Source: Agence France Presse
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