Snowden Gets Temporary Asylum in Russia, Leaves Airport

By Paul Sonne

MOSCOW—National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden received temporary asylum in Russia and left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for an undisclosed location, raising the prospect that the most high-profile U.S. fugitive of recent years will remain in Russia for the foreseeable future.

Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who has been representing Mr. Snowden in Moscow, said the U.S. fugitive received asylum for a renewable period of one year, a designation that allows him to live, work and travel on Russian territory.

“He has left for a safe place,” Mr. Kucherena said on Thursday in a statement in front of cameras at Sheremetyevo Airport’s Terminal E. He told The Wall Street Journal in a phone interview that he had escorted Mr. Snowden into a car and sent him on his way. He declined to say where his client was headed.

Russia’s decision to harbor Mr. Snowden is likely to weigh on an already frosty relationship with Washington and could derail a planned summit in Moscow between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for early September. For Mr. Snowden, Russia’s hospitality could prove a mixed blessing, as the Kremlin has demanded he cease his “political activities” in order to stay in the country.

Mr. Kucherena appeared on state television holding up a copy of a refugee certificate, dated July 31, which Russian authorities issued to Mr. Snowden. The certificate resembled a Russian passport, bearing Mr. Snowden’s photo and biographical details. It isn’t valid for international travel.

“In terms of places to live, he will choose himself,” Mr. Kucherena said in the TV interview. “He can live in a hotel or rent an apartment. Seeing as he is the most wanted person on earth, he today will also be focusing on questions of his own security.”

“He has to go through a period of adaptation,” Mr. Kucherena said. “He has spent a rather long time in the transit zone, so I would ask for your understanding.”

Mr. Snowden is aware of the media’s interest in speaking to him, Mr. Kucherena said. He asked for patience from the dozens of reporters who have staked out the airport for more than a month hoping to catch a glimpse of the 30-year-old former national security contractor.

Mr. Snowden, who is wanted by U.S. authorities for leaking documents related to the NSA’s foreign and domestic surveillance operations, told a group of civil-society figures here last month that he wants to remain in Russia temporarily until he can secure safe passage to Latin America, where a number of countries have offered him asylum. He has been unable to reach those countries since the U.S. revoked his passport.

Though both the White House and the Kremlin have emphasized that they don’t want the Snowden affair to hurt U.S.-Russian relations, it has come to overshadow recent efforts to patch up tattered ties.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov immediately tried to play down the impact of the decision to harbor Mr. Snowden. “This situation is too insignificant to affect political relations,” he said in comments to the Interfax news agency.

Mr. Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 22. With the help of antisecrecy group WikiLeaks, he had been trying to reach Ecuador, where he was seeking asylum. Instead, he found himself stuck in Russia.

On Thursday, WikiLeaks issued a statement on Twitter thanking Russia. “We would like to thank the Russian people and all those others who have helped to protect Mr. Snowden,” the group said. “We have won the battle—now the war.”

The group said that Mr. Snowden had left the airport “under the care” of WikiLeaks aide Sarah Harrison, who has been traveling with Mr. Snowden since he left Hong Kong.

Posted by Editor on August 1, 2013. Filed under WORLD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry