Submitted by: Doris Parker
Snowden applies for political asylum in Russia, rants against Obama admin
Fugitive
NSA leaker Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia,
but President Vladimir Putin says he can stay only if he stops "damaging
our American partners." And only hours later, Snowden released a
statement railing against the U.S. government.
A consul at the Moscow
airport where Snowden is reportedly holed up told Russia's official
news agency, ITAR-TASS, that Snowden made the asylum application late
Sunday. It was submitted by Sarah Harrison, a staffer with the
anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Hours later, Putin told reporters that
Russia will not hand over Snowden to U.S. authorities, but said there
would be strings attached if he wants to remain in Moscow.
“If he
likes to stay here there is one condition: he should cease his work
aimed at damaging our American partners. No matter how strange it will
sound from me," Putin told reporters, adding that Snowden is not working
for Russian intelligence.
He said he doubted Snowden would curtail
his activities and suggested that the former National Security Agency
contractor should figure out which country he wants to wind up in and
"move there."
Snowden left the U.S. for Hong Kong before he leaked
top-secret details of U.S. surveillance programs and was charged with
espionage. With the help of WikiLeaks he traveled to Moscow eight days
ago.
The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but
President Barack Obama noted that Snowden traveled to Moscow without
legal papers and referred to "high-level" discussions between the two
countries about the case.
"We are hopeful that the Russian government
makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international
travel and the normal interactions that law enforcement have," Obama
said.
It was thought that Snowden would eventually head for Ecuador,
but the president of the South American country said this week that no
asylum request was sent and suggested Russia would make the call on where Snowden could leave and where he would go.
And
in a statement released late Monday through WikiLeaks, Snowden claimed
the White House is pressuring other countries to deny him asylum.
"The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon," his statement said.
"This
kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is
the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of
political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those
who would come after me," he added.
"Although I am convicted of
nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless
person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to
stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The
right to seek asylum."
While Snowden remains in legal limbo, new claims about U.S. surveillance based on his leaks continue to emerge.
Obama
addressed reports that the NSA has bugged America’s European allies
with something of a shrug, saying it should not be a surprise that
intelligence agencies seek “additional insight beyond what's available
through open sources.”
"If that weren't the case, then there'd be no use for an intelligence service, " Obama told reporters while traveling in Africa.
“And
I guarantee you that in European capitals there are people who are
interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking
points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders,” he added.
“That's how intelligence services operate.”
He said his team would look into the allegations and report back to European Union allies, who have expressed concern and, in some cases, outrage.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who is traveling in Brunei, echoed Obama's statement.
"I
will say that every country in the world that is engaged in
international affairs of national security undertakes lots of activities
to protect its national security, and all kinds of information
contributes to that, and all I know is that that is not unusual for lots
of nations," he said.
"But beyond that, I'm not going to comment any
further until I have all of the facts and find out precisely what the
situation is."
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