United States (U.S.) intelligence whistleblower, Edward Snowden, on Tuesday applied for temporary asylum in Russia.
Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) worker who fled from Hong Kong has been holed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport since June 23 after leaking details of U.S. surveillance programmes.
His lawyer, Russian born Anatoly Kucherena said he had met Snowden and “the application has been filed with the Russian authorities”.
Wikileaks, the whistleblowing website, which has been supporting Snowden also confirmed in a post on Twitter: “Edward Snowden today filed for a temporary protection visa with Russia’s Ministry of Immigration.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. has urged Moscow to return the 30-year-old back home, where he is wanted on espionage charges after revealing details of secret surveillance programmes.
Snowden, who spoke with human rights activists last week, after three weeks of silence, said he planned to apply for temporary asylum in Russia until he had won “safe passage” to Latin America, where three countries have offered him political asylum.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that Snowden can only stay in Russia if he “stops damaging our U.S. partners”.
