Edward Snowden has been granted documents that will allow him to leave a Moscow airport where he has been for the last month. But not quite just yet.......

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Edward Snowden has been granted documents that will allow him to leave a Moscow airport where he has been for the last month. But not quite just yet.......

BUSINESS INSIDER

Edward Snowden Allowed To Leave Moscow Airport And Enter Russia

Michael Kelley Jul. 24, 2013, 8:16 AM 4,282

REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

Police guard a door where human rights groups were taken to meet former intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo airport July 12, 2013.

Former NSA whistleblower/leaker Edward Snowden has been granted documents that will allow him to leave a Moscow airport where he has been for the last month, Reuters and Russian media report.
BBC notes that Russia's Federal Migration Service will soon issue a document granting him rights as a Russian citizen.
But Snowden's lawyer says Snowden won't leave the airport today and will remain in the transit zone until paperwork is finalized.
On Tuesday his Moscow lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said that if Snowden is granted a one-year temporary asylum, the term "can be prolonged for another year and this can be repeated an indefinite number of times afterwards."
“He’s planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job," Kucherena, who has links to the country's intelligence service (i.e. FSB), told RT. "And, I think, that all his further decisions will be made considering the situation he found himself in.”
Snowden is an elite hacker, trained by the NSA, who gained access and "carefully read" 10,000 classified NSA files. Furthermore, Snowden knows his way around the vetting process of the world's largest spy agency.

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BUSINESS INSIDER

Snowden's Moscow Lawyer: NSA Leaker Is Planning To Live In Russia And Get A Job

Michael Kelley Jul. 23, 2013, 1:11 PM 7,452 42

The Moscow lawyer of NSA whistleblower/leaker Edward Snowden tells Russia Today that the 30-year-old is planning to spend the foreseeable future in Russia.
“He’s planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job," Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer with links to the country's intelligence service (i.e. FSB), told RT. "And, I think, that all his further decisions will be made considering the situation he found himself in.”
The situation he found himself in was being stuck in Russia after the U.S. voided his passport while he was in Hong Kong and Snowden flew to Moscow on a travel document from Ecuador's consul in London.
Kucherena, who sits on the public council of the FSB, has been speaking for Snowden since July 12 — the day Snowden accepted all offers of support and asylum.
“We must understand that security is the number one issue in his case," Kucherena told RT. "I think the process of adaptation will take some time. It’s an understandable process as he doesn’t know the Russian language, our customs, and our laws.”
If Snowden is granted a one-year temporary asylum, the term "can be prolonged for another year and this can be repeated an indefinite number of times afterwards," Kucherena said.
The development seems like very bad news for the U.S.
Snowden is an elite hacker, trained by the NSA, who gained access and "carefully read" 10,000 classified NSA files.
Furthermore, Snowden knows his way around the vetting process of the world's largest spy agency.
When Snowden arrived in Moscow on June 23, a radio host in Moscow "saw about 20 Russian officials, supposedly FSB agents, in suits, crowding around somebody in a restricted area of the airport," according to Anna Nemtsova of Foreign Policy.
"Snowden will fly out of Russia when the Kremlin decides he can go," Moscow political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told Foreign Policy after Snowden arrived. "He might not even be in the airport. The safest place would be a GRU [Russian military intelligence] apartment."

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Hinterland Gazette

NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Asylum Request Under Review, Can’t Leave Sheremetyevo Airport

July 24, 2013 by Janet Shan Leave a Comment

Russia Gives NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Documents to Leave Moscow Airport`

[UPDATED]: Edward Snowden not leaving Russia airport transit area today, asylum request still not complete.

Well, it seems that Edward Snowden won’t be sprung today from a Moscow airport. Earlier RIA Novosti reported that the fugitive NSA leaker had been given documents to leave the Moscow airport transit area and formally enter Russia. His lawyer is now saying that isn’t the case and that the asylum request is still under review. I hope Edward Snowden isn’t jaded into thinking he will be living in paradise once outside the airport. He should revisit history and look at what happened to the Americans who sought asylum in Russia.

Russia Today: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden will have to stay at a Moscow airport for a little longer as his asylum plea is still being reviewed by Russian Immigration Authorities, according to his lawyer.
Anatoly Kucherena said that today Snowden will not leave Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, but confirmed that the NSA-leaker will live in Russia. He assured that Snowden is staying in good conditions.
However,Kucherena did not give any specific date when documents should be issued. Asked about reasons for that, he explained that such delay in issuing all necessary documents to Snowden is because of the uniqueness of the situation.

Earlier reports:
CNN: It’s still not clear whether Russia will grant the temporary-asylum request. But if it does, Snowden would be able to live in Russia — and even travel abroad — for at least a year, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said last week.

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