Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower, has submitted an official request for temporary asylum in Russia, a pro-Kremlin lawyer said on Tuesday, increasing the possibility that the fugitive may finally leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport,
Anatoly Kucherena said Mr Snowden had handed his request to a
Federal Migration Services employee who came to the airport. “As
Snowden cannot leave the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport, he filled
out all the necessary forms there, wrote his application and handed it
over to a specially invited Federal Migration Service employee,” said Mr
Kucherena who first met Mr Snowden on Friday along with a delegation of
human rights activists and lawyers.
The
Federal Migration Service declined to comment on the application
request. But on its website, the service says an application for
temporary asylum can take up to three months. Temporary asylum can be
granted for up to one year but then extended on an annual basis. Mr Kucherena has suggested in previous comments that the
asylum request from the former National Security Agency contractor could
be granted within two to three weeks. The request comes one day after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, compared the whistleblower to an unwanted Christmas present
underlining the Kremlin’s complicated relationship with the fugitive since he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23. While Mr Putin has been happy to take aim at the US for
going after Mr Snowden, he is equally anxious to preserve a semblance of
good relations between Moscow and Washington, especially ahead of
President Barack Obama’s visit to Russia in September.
On Tuesday, Mr Putin stressed that Mr Snowden had intended
to travel onward from Moscow to South America, but had been forced to
stay after the US revoked his travel documents, and it became less clear
he would enjoy safe passage. “In fact the US itself scared other countries into denying
entry to Snowden and actually trapped him on our territory. Such a
present to us. Merry Christmas,” he said sarcastically.
He added that Mr Snowden still intended to go to South
America and would leave Moscow “as soon as he had the possibility to do
so”.