After being holed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport’s transit zone for a week, US leaker Edward Snowden, has applied for political asylum in Russia, a Russian foreign ministry official at the airport says.
“At 10.30pm yesterday (Sunday), British citizen Sarah Harrison turned up at the consulate department at Sheremetyevo airport and submitted a request from Snowden about granting him asylum,” a consular officer at Sheremetyevo airport, Kim Shevchenko, told AFP.
Sarah Harrison is an employee of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who accompanied Snowden on his trip from Hong Kong.
Earlier on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Snowden may have asylum in Russia as long as he stops releasing information about US intelligence programs.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow.
“If he (Snowden) wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
Snowden apparently considered Russia as Ecuador seem not to be forthcoming about granting his request with the South American country’s president even berating Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange for helping him…more so, he is in Russia already, at least technically, as his being in Russia would only be official if he gets out of the transit zone of the airport; then, he will be needing a valid passport, something he lacks now.
Snowden will know his fate in the coming days while he remains at the airport.
