Kremlin Considering Asylum as Snowden Tells Rights Groups He Wants to Stay in Russia
Fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden on Friday told activists he wanted to claim asylum in Russia until he can travel on to Latin America, in his first encounter with the outside world since becoming marooned at a Moscow airport three weeks ago.
The dramatic meeting at Sheremetyevo airport with rights groups and lawyers appeared an attempt by Snowden to find a way out of an increasingly difficult situation as he seeks to escape U.S. espionage charges for leaking sensational details of widespread American surveillance activities.
However, swift warnings came from Washington against Moscow allowing Snowden to stay in the country and giving him "a propaganda platform".
U.S. President Barack Obama was expected to speak by phonewith Russian leader Vladimir Putin later Friday, officials said.
"Providing a propaganda platform for Mr Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
"It's also incompatible with Russian assurances that they do not want Mr Snowden to further damage U.S. interests."
At Moscow's airport, Snowden, 30, told a group of activists and lawyers from organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that he had "no regrets" about his revelations.
"That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets," Snowden said in a transcript released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
Amateur footage from the meeting aired on television showed Snowden dressed in a grey shirt and looking relaxed as he read out his statement. He broke out in laughter when a disruptive airport announcement came through the intercom, forcing him to pause.
"I've heard this many times over the last couple of weeks," he said pointing to the ceiling to chuckles from the audience and a smile from Sarah Harrison, a British WikiLeaks employee who has been with him throughout his stay in Russia.
Snowden, who has no official travel documents, said he will be submitting his asylum request to Russia later in the day hoping "it will be accepted favorably" before he could work out a way to travel legally to Latin America.
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have all indicated they would be open to offering Snowden a safe haven. Most other countries where he had applied for asylum rejected his request.
"Some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law... This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America," Snowden said.
Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane, flying home from a trip to Moscow, was diverted last week after several European nations closed their airspace to him over groundless rumors that Snowden was on board the jet.
Moscow said last week that Snowden had withdrawn his application for asylum in Russia after Putin said it was conditional on not damaging U.S. interests.
Participants at the meeting said Snowden had vowed not to harm the United States, although it was not clear if this meant he was prepared to halt leaking new information about U.S. surveillance activities.
Snowden "promised that he would not act to harm the United States", said lawyer Genri Reznik after attending the meeting.
"He understands that giving him political asylum will complicate ties between Russia and the U.S.," he said.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by repeating the Russian president's condition that Snowden "first, completely stops the activities harming our American partners and U.S.-Russian relations and second, if he asks for this himself," Russian agencies reported.
In a possible indication that Moscow is now more favorably disposed to Snowden, the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament and an ally of Putin, Sergei Naryshkin, told state television that Russia should grant Snowden asylum, describing him as a "defender of human rights".
Russian ruling party lawmaker Vyacheslav Nikonov who was present at the meeting said Snowden "was a bit jittery" but exuded confidence and a belief he "felt he was right".
Snowden has made no public appearances since arriving at the state-controlled airport in the Russian capital on June 23. According to officials, he has spent the whole time in the airport transit zone but there has not been a single verifiable sighting of him until now.
The U.S. embassy in Moscow used Friday's meeting to relay a message to Snowden warning him he should face justice at home, according to Human Rights Watch senior researcher Tanya Lokshina, who said she was asked by the embassy to transmit the message.
Source: Agence France Presse
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