“We can’t behave like other countries. Russia has an independent foreign
policy and we’re going to keep it that way,” Mr Putin said on Wednesday
in his first comment on Mr Snowden’s request of Russian asylum.
The Russian leader called on the U.S. to get the Snowden case behind it and keep bilateral ties on track.
“I hope our [U.S.] partners will appreciate this [the Russian stand] and
react calmly [and] with understanding. Interstate relations, in my
view, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of
secret services.”
There are fears that the Russian asylum for the former U.S. intelligence
analyst could jeopardise U.S. President Barack Obama’s planned visit to
Moscow in September.
Mr Snowden, stuck for more than three weeks at a Moscow airport without
travel documents, filed his formal application for temporary asylum in
Russia on Tuesday accepting Mr Putin’s condition for staying in Russia –
“stop harming our U.S. partner.”
Asked how the Kremlin would control Mr Snowden’s compliance Mr Putin said:
“I won’t give you any details. We have warned Mr Snowden that any
activity of his that could damage Russian-American relations is
unacceptable for us.”
Speaking to journalists in the Siberian city of Chita Mr Putin could not
deny himself the pleasure of taking a dig at Washington’s intrusive
support for human rights in other countries:
“Human rights activity has its downside for those who engage it. It can
be quite comfortable when pursued under the tutelage of the U.S. and
with its financial, information [and] political support, when somebody
wants to criticise the U.S., he may have problems as the incident with
the Bolivian President’s plane has shown.”
The aircraft of Bolivian President Eva Morales returning from a visit to
Moscow on July 2 was forced to land in Austria and searched on a U.S.
tipoff that it had Mr Snowden on board.