President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday a former US spy agency contractor sought by the US was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing US criticisms as “ravings and rubbish”.
In his first public comments since Edward Snowden flew in on Sunday, Putin appeared to make light of the diplomatic uproar over the fugitive, whose flight from US authorities is becoming a growing embarrassment for President Barack Obama.
Asked by a journalist about the affair, he smiled. “I myself would prefer not to deal with these issues. It’s like shearing a piglet: there’s a lot of squealing, but there’s little wool,” he told a Press conference in Finland.
Snowden, who worked as a systems administrator at a US National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, is facing espionage charges from the US after leaking details about secret US surveillance programmes to the media.
Putin’s refusal to hand back Snowden risked deepening a rift with the US that has also sucked in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.
Washington has gone to great lengths to try to ensure Snowden has nowhere to go to seek refuge.
But Putin said Russia had no extradition treaty with the US and suggested Moscow would expel Snowden only if he were a criminal.
“He has not crossed the state’s border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia (of aiding him) are ravings and rubbish,” Putin said in the garden of a presidential residence, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto beside him.
Shortly after Putin’s comments, the White House urged Russia to immediately expel Snowden and said Moscow had a “clear legal basis” to do so based on the basis of his revoked passport and the outstanding charges against him.
Putin said the 30-year-old Snowden was in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and, not having gone through passport control, was free to leave. “The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it would be for us and for himself,” Putin said.
There has been speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB, the Russian security service, and could be involved in a prisoner swap. Putin said Russian security agencies “never worked with … Snowden and are not working with him today”.
Snowden is travelling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador, WikiLeaks said.
US officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had and that he may have taken more documents than estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.
Source:Agencies
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