RUSSIA GRANTS ASYLUM
TO EDWARD SNOWDEN:
Massive diplomatic snub
to Washington:
On August
1, Edward Snowden was granted asylum in the Russian Federation and
left the Sheremetyevo Airport transit zone.
Earlier, a
source close to the matter reported this information explaining that the customs
officers received the required papers from Federal Migration Service giving
Snowden the right to stay in Russia. He’s “formally in Russia’s territory.” He
added that the former CIA employee currently "has all the necessary
documents to legally stay in Russia". He cannot be deported to the United
States, even if the country makes an official request, a source in the Russian
law enforcement agencies told news agencies on Thursday. “The granting of
temporary asylum protects Snowden from deportation, because under the law a
person, who was granted temporary asylum, cannot be returned against his will
to the country, a citizen of which he is, or to the place of his permanent
residence.”
His legal
representative, Anatoly Kucherena said: “I have just handed over to him papers
from the Russian Immigration Service. They are what he needs to leave the
transit zone.” Kucherena told state broadcaster Russia 24: “I have just seen
him off. He has left for a secure location. Security is a very serious matter
for him.”
Kucherena
told Reuters:
“He is the most wanted man on planet Earth. What do you think he is going to
do?” “He has to think about his personal security. I cannot tell you where he
is going.” “I put him in a taxi 15 to 20 minutes ago and gave him his certificate
on getting refugee status in the Russian Federation. He can live wherever he
wants in Russia. It’s his personal choice.” Mr Snowden left accompanied by
WikiLeaks representative, Sarah Harrison. She twittered saying:
“We would like to thank the Russian people and all those others who have helped to protect Mr. Snowden. We have won the battle – now the war.”
He has been
granted temporary asylum through at least through July 31, 2014. He can extend
it annually on request. Doing so lets him stay in Russia permanently. He can
make a new life there if he chooses. He’s got plenty of time to decide. He
won’t be sent back to America. At 15:30 Moscow time (11:30 GMT), he left
Sheremetyevo Airport transit zone.
In a formal statement issued to the Press Mr Snowden explained his actions:
In a formal statement issued to the Press Mr Snowden explained his actions:
“I do not
want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded,” he said. "That
is not something I am willing to support or live under. I don’t want to live in
a world where there’s no privacy, and therefore no room for intellectual
exploration and creativity. I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know
I have done nothing wrong".
"I had been looking for leaders,
but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act. There are more
important things than money. If I were motivated by money, I could have sold
these documents to any number of countries and gotten very rich. The great fear
that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that
nothing will change. People won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to
stand up and fight to change things. And in the months ahead, the years ahead,
it’s only going to get worse".
DIPLOMACY NORMS:
Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative
for human rights and the rule of law, said that when pressing for the return of
Snowden, who was stranded in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport,
the United States should not claim that Russia is under any obligation to do
so:
“In any situation of international significance, we remain committed to
the fulfillment of corresponding international obligations,” the Russian
diplomat said. “When obligations exist, we fulfil them. But they should not be
invented in cases where they do not exist,” he said.
Washington has repeatedly called on Moscow to reject Snowden’s request
for asylum and send him back to the United States to stand trial on charges of
espionage and theft. However, Dolgov said Russia has not yet received a formal
US request to extradite Snowden. US officials have requested Russia to
return Snowden, arguing that although the two states have no formal
extradition treaty, Washington has allegedly returned a number of Russians
following requests from Moscow. Dolgov said the United States had failed to
provide Russia with a list of those individuals, adding that the terms
“extradition” and “deportation” were not interchangeable and should not be
confused. “As far as I know, there have been no cases [of extradition] from US
territory. Although people are indeed being deported, it’s not because of
Russia’s demands, but because they have violated US law,” the Russian diplomat
said.
Since nothing done by the Kremlin is uncalculated, this decision to resist Washington's pressure has to have been decided at top level, meaning President Vladimir Putin himself. Putin said previously that US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden was staying in the transit area of a Moscow airport because Washington had “blocked” him there by intimidating countries that had been ready to grant him asylum. “He arrived on our territory without an invitation. He wasn’t flying to us. He was on a transit flight to other countries,” Putin said in St. Petersburg, adding that the United States had “intimidated other countries, so that nobody wants him.” “That’s how they blocked him on our territory,” Putin said. Putin added that Russia would not extradite Snowden to the United States, where he could face the death penalty. But the Kremlin has also tried to keep its distance from the case, emphasising that it is a human rights issue.
Since nothing done by the Kremlin is uncalculated, this decision to resist Washington's pressure has to have been decided at top level, meaning President Vladimir Putin himself. Putin said previously that US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden was staying in the transit area of a Moscow airport because Washington had “blocked” him there by intimidating countries that had been ready to grant him asylum. “He arrived on our territory without an invitation. He wasn’t flying to us. He was on a transit flight to other countries,” Putin said in St. Petersburg, adding that the United States had “intimidated other countries, so that nobody wants him.” “That’s how they blocked him on our territory,” Putin said. Putin added that Russia would not extradite Snowden to the United States, where he could face the death penalty. But the Kremlin has also tried to keep its distance from the case, emphasising that it is a human rights issue.
WASHINGTON immediately criticised the Russian decision and hinted that
it could cancel a planned bilateral summit between US President Barack Obama
and Russian President Vladimir Putin at next month's G20 Summit in St
Petersburg. “We have a wide range of interests with the Russians, and we
are evaluating the utility of a summit,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told
a news briefing on Thursday in reference to the two leaders’ planned meeting
next month, adding that the United States is “extremely disappointed” that
Russia has given refuge to Snowden.
Carney declined to discuss if or how Washington might respond in the
aftermath of Snowden’s asylum and said that while the White House is examining
the value of the scheduled Obama-Putin summit, he did not have any changes in
the US president’s schedule to announce. Obama plans to travel to Russia next
month for the G20 meeting in St. Petersburg, a trip which includes the
scheduled bilateral meeting with Putin in Moscow.
Carney indicated that US authorities would continue to press Russia for
help in bringing Snowden into the custody of the Americans. “We will obviously
be in contact with Russian authorities expressing our extreme disappointment in
this decision and making the case clearly that there is absolute legal
justification for Mr. Snowden to be returned to the United States” Carney
told reporters. Both Carney and US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that
Russia did not notify the United States in advance of its decision to grant
asylum to Snowden.
Prominent US politicians, meanwhile, expressed outrage over Russia’s approval
of Snowden’s asylum request, saying it deals a significant blow to bilateral
relations. US Sen. John McCain, a consistent critic of the Obama administration and called
the move “a slap in the face of all Americans.” “Now is the time to
fundamentally rethink our relationship with Putin’s Russia,” McCain said in a
statement. “We need to deal with the Russia that is, not the Russia we might
wish for. We cannot allow today’s action by Putin to stand without serious
repercussions.”
McCain called on the Obama administration to respond in part by
expanding the blacklist of Russian officials sanctioned under the controversial
Magnitsky Act and extending membership in the North Atlanta Treaty Organization
(NATO) to the former Soviet republic of Georgia, whose ambitions to join the
military alliance have angered Moscow in recent years. Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman
of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, called Snowden’s asylum “a
setback to US-Russian relations” despite being only granted for a period of one
year. Snowden “is a fugitive who belongs in a United States courtroom, not a
free man deserving of asylum in Russia,” Menendez said in a statement.
Sen. Tom Coburn said in a television interview with MSNBC on Thursday that
Snowden’s asylum “probably hurts the relationship” between Russia and the
United States and suggested Russian intelligence had exploited the former NSA
contractor’s knowledge of US intelligence programs – a claim both Snowden and
Russian officials have denied. “He’s undoubtedly in my mind a traitor to our
country and probably most of what he knows, the Russians already know. … It’s a
gold mine for them,” Coburn said.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters in Moscow on Thursday that
Snowden’s asylum “is not important enough to affect political relations”
between the United States and Russia, adding that Moscow was interested in the
development of ties with Washington “in all areas".
The outrage of the US Senate rabble rousers notwithstanding, the Russian decision will be welcomed by supporters of Mr Snowden and regard it as a significant defeat for the US National Surveillance State.
(see also Blagaroon 2; Bradley Manning trial ends;
http://blagaroon2.blogspot.ie/2013/08/bradley-manning-major-threat-to-us.html#comment-form)(see also Blagaroon 2; Bradley Manning trial ends;
