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Snowden Leaves Russian Airport For Year-Long Asylum

Colin Hale |
August 1, 2013 | 11:56 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Edward Snowden/via Flickr Creative Commons
Edward Snowden/via Flickr Creative Commons
Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor wanted by the U.S. government for leaking secret intelligence programs, left the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow on Thursday after Russian officials granted him temporary asylum.

According to Snowden's lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, the Russian government granted Snowden a temporary one-year asylum and would be staying in a safe and secret location for "security reasons," as he is the "most pursued man on the planet."

According to the BBC, Snowden left the airport at 2:00pm local time and was not spotted by the media as he left.

Snowden released a statement through the Wikileaks website thanking Russia for granting him asylum and accusing the U.S. government and President Barack Obama for having "no respect" for international law.  

"Over the past eight weeks we have seen the Obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law," Snowden's statement read. "But in the end the law is winning."

Carney said Obama was "extremely disappointed" by decision/via Flickr Creative Commons
Carney said Obama was "extremely disappointed" by decision/via Flickr Creative Commons
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama is "extremely disappointed" by Russia's asylum agreement.  Obama is scheduled to visit Moscow next month for a G-20 summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

U.S. lawmakers also expressed their disappointment in Russia's decision.  "Edward Snowden is a fugitive who belongs in a United States courtroom," said Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Regardless of the fact that Russia is granting asylum for one year, this action is a setback to U.S.-Russia relations."

Other lawmakers have proposed that Obama skip the summit in Russia next month, while others have called for the U.S. to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in February.

A senior official at the Kremlin said that despite this decision, the Russian government hoped that it would not hurt relations between the two countries.

"Our president has expressed hope many times that this will not affect the character of our relations," said Yuri Yshakov, Putin's top foreign policy advisor.

"This issue is too insignificant to influence political relations."

Reach Executive Producer Colin Hale here. Follow him on Twitter.





 

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