JRL NEWSBLOG: Russia Today: Snowden wants asylum in Russia, ready to meet condition not to damage U.S.

[Snowden wants asylum in Russia, ready to meet condition not to damage US – russiatoday.com – July 12, 2013 – http://rt.com/news/snowden-meets-rights-activists-013/]

Pro-Kremlin Russia Today reports that the fugitive former NSA IT support contractor Edward Snowden, wanted for espionage in the United States, once again is seeking asylum in Russia:

NSA leaker & former CIA employee Edward Snowden has asked for political asylum in Russia, saying he could not fly to Latin America, according to human rights activists who met the whistleblower at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

… Snowden asked the human rights activists to petition the US and European states not to interfere with his asylum process, she said. The former NSA contractor also asked to intervene with President Putin on his behalf, Lokshina added.

* * *

Thirteen Russian and international human rights advocates and lawyers have gathered at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport for a meeting with Snowden. The whistleblower said the living conditions were fine at the airport and he felt safe there, but he knows he can’t stay there forever, according to Lokshina.

Rights advocates who received letters from Snowden and agreed to come to the meeting included representatives of Amnesty International, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations, as well as well-known Russian lawyers.

The Kremlin has indicated that it has not yet received a formal asylum request, while reiterating that it would not grant asylum if Snowden were to continue leaking information or undermining the United States.  At the same time, the Kremlin distinguished the fact that it would not extradite.  And a Kremlin spokesman raised doubts about whether Snowden would, in fact, stop his whistleblower activities:

The Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying the Kremlin has not yet received any formal asylum request from Snowden. The conditions for his staying in Russia remain the same as voiced by Vladimir Putin earlier, he added.

Should Snowden apply for asylum, Russia will consider his request, Peskov said.

Russia was one of over twenty countries to which Snowden sent asylum request according to Wikileaks. President Vladimir Putin said then Snowden may stay in Russia, if he wants to, but only if he stops activities aimed against the United States.

‘There is one condition if he wants to remain here: he must stop his work aimed at damaging our American partners. As odd as it may sound from me,’ Putin told a media conference in Moscow.

In Putin’s opinion … it seems unlikely that [Snowden] is going to stop leaking American secret data.

However, Russia is not going to extradite Snowden, the president underlined.

‘Russia has never extradited anyone and is not going to do so. Same as no one has ever been extradited to Russia,’ Putin stated.

‘… extraditing Snowden to a country like the US where capital punishment is enforced is impossible,’ Peskov explained to press.

Snowden reportedly has agreed to not make new revelations, and is said to agree to not cause harm to the United States.  However, he also apparently has tried to deny harm caused by what he already revealed:

… When asked if the NSA leaker has any more revelations, [Human Rights Watch activist Tatyana] Lokshina responded: ‘He says that his job is done.’

… Snowden said he is ready to ask Russia for political asylum and that he ‘does not intend to harm the US in the future,’ according to Russian State Duma MP Vyacheslav Nikonov.

‘No actions I take or plan are meant to harm the US… I want the US to succeed,’ Snowden said.

As a result, Snowden reportedly is ready to accept the condition laid down by Putin, to stop leaking.  [But references to about him not causing harm in the future arguably are modified, or made more ambigious, by his argument that his past actions did not cause harm.]

Snowden reportedly still is contemplating Latin America, but was made skittish by aggressive efforts to intervene with a flight to Latin America even when a head of state was on board:

Snowden said he does not rule out moving to live in a Latin American country. However, the recent incident in which the Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was grounded in Austria on suspicion that the NSA leaker was on board discourages Snowden from going there now.

“First, he said that he was dissatisfied with European countries after the Bolivian president’s plane was inspected. He wants to seek political asylum, at least temporary shelter, in Russia. But his further actions are unclear,” Nikitin said.

According to human rights lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, the request for political asylum has already been written by Snowden. Kucherena said he will provide legal support for the former NSA contractor seeking asylum.

Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has suggested involving the United Nations and raised concerns about the impact on U.S.-Russian Relations:

Meanwhile, Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin suggested that it would be better for Snowden to ask the UN or the ICRC for refugee status instead of seeking asylum in Russia. That way it won’t harm Russian-American relations, he added.

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