Post date: Jul 12, 2013 5:8:31 PM
Participants in a meeting with ex-intelligence services contractor Edward Snowdendetail their exchange and impressions of the fugitive.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 12, 2013) (REUTERS) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden on Friday (July 12) told human rights activists, lawyers and a Russian State Duma deputy he would submit a request for temporary asylum to Russia, where he intends to stay until he can travel to Latin America.
Snowden made the comments during a meeting in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he has been holed up unseen since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.Prominent Russian lawyer Henri Reznik jokingly confirmed Snowden's presence inMoscow and why the 30-year-old convened the meeting.
"Firstly, Mr. Snowden is not a phantom. Such a person exists. Secondly, he has requested political asylum from Russia and requests the human rights activists' community support him in this wish," Reznik said.
Russian State Duma Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov detailed Snowden's reasons for seeking asylum.
"He is wanted for political reasons. He accused the government of the United States of America of violating the fourth and fifth amendments of the Constitution of the Unites States and said that he is grateful to those countries who agreed to give him political asylum, and he agrees to accept asylum in all of those countries. Moreover, in his statement he voiced his readiness to officially request asylum in the Russian Federation," Nikonov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday Snowden must refrain from harming the United States if he wants asylum in the country, but he said he was unaware of a formal request for asylum from Snowden.
Nikonov said he asked Snowden if he would respect the Russian government's request.
"To my question if he knows the conditions by President Putin that political asylum is only possible if he stops harming the United States of America, Mr. Snowden replied positively. He said that is easy to comply with this condition, because everything he has done is already in the past, and the things that journalists say have nothing in common with his current activities. And in the future he is not planning to harm his own country the United States of America," Nikonov said.
Amnesty International Russia Director Sergei Nikitin shared his impression of Snowden after the meeting.
"I was almost the first who entered the room and immediately approached the table where he was sitting. And my first words to him were that he had enough time to learn Russian. And he smiled and said that he doesn't know it well yet. He looks perfectly well to me. It seemed to me that he's a bit pale, but very neat. He said that the conditions of his being here are quite good and he didn't have any complaints about it," Nikitin said.
Snowden has been on the run since disclosing details of U.S. electronic surveillance programmes, and Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin said he should seek official refugee status from the UN.
"I advised him to ask for passes (passports) in the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in the United Nations, or somewhere else. So the odyssey is being continued," Lukin said.
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered Snowden asylum, but he has not revealed his plans. Washington, which seeks to arrest Snowden on charges of espionage in divulging details of secret U.S. surveillance programmes, has revoked Snowden's passport and pressed nations not to take him in or help him travel.