Interfax: Claims of Snowden’s possible extradition to U.S. absurd – Russian Foreign Ministry

February 15, 2017 JRL Russia List Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed reports by several media organizations on the possibility that Russia could extradite former CIA employee Edward Snowden to the United States as a ‘gift’ to new U.S. President Donald Trump as absurd.

“The Russian side has already commented at various levels on the absurdity of such a claim,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing in Moscow on Wednesday.

She provided as an example of “fake news” the reports of a number of U.S. media organizations alleging that Moscow is considering the possibility of extraditing the fugitive former employee of the CIA and NSA Snowden as a gift to new U.S. leader Trump.

“It’s not the first time, when U.S. media publish references to certain unnamed sources. First of all, no one approached the Russian side for confirmation or refutation of this information before its publication,”