MOSCOW — After a month holed up in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor sought by the United States on espionage charges, received a change of clothes and copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” during a meeting with his lawyer on Wednesday, but still no clearance to enter Russia.
[h=6]The Guardian, via Reuters[/h]The former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden during an interview in Hong Kong in June.
Mr. Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, and Russian news agencies had reported earlier on Wednesday that the Russian Federal Migration Service had issued a certificate confirming his application and permitting him to pass through Russian border control. A huge throng of reporters and camera crews gathered at the airport terminal in anticipation of Mr. Snowden’s departure.
But at about 6 p.m.. Antatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer assisting Mr. Snowden with his asylum request, emerged from the transit zone and said that the certificate had not been received.
He did not cite any specific reason for the delay but said officials had informed him that Mr. Snowden’s situation “was not a standard process” and that the paperwork needed to allow him to depart the airport.
Mr. Kucherena said he had met with Mr. Snowden and described him as being in good spirits, with plans to learn Russian. He said he had brought him the copy of “Crime and Punishment.”
The Federal Migration Service declined to comment on the status of Mr. Snowden’s asylum request. He has been staying at the airport’s international transit zone since June 23, having flown here from Hong Kong one step ahead of an extradition request from the United States.
While the bureaucratic process has unfolded slowly, Russian officials, including President Vladimir V. Putin, have made clear that they have no intention of extraditing him to the United States – a position that has infuriated the Obama administration.
Mr. Putin has insisted that Mr. Snowden’s presence in Russia should not harm relations between the two countries, even as the White House has signaled that President Obama, amid mounting frustration, may cancel a planned summit meeting in Moscow in September.
Russian officials this week issued public statements noting that the United States has routinely rejected extradition requests from the Russian government, apparently to send a message that the Americans have no right to expect Mr. Snowden’s repatriation.
Andrew Roth and Noah Sneider contributed reporting.
[h=6]The Guardian, via Reuters[/h]The former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden during an interview in Hong Kong in June.
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Mr. Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, and Russian news agencies had reported earlier on Wednesday that the Russian Federal Migration Service had issued a certificate confirming his application and permitting him to pass through Russian border control. A huge throng of reporters and camera crews gathered at the airport terminal in anticipation of Mr. Snowden’s departure.
But at about 6 p.m.. Antatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer assisting Mr. Snowden with his asylum request, emerged from the transit zone and said that the certificate had not been received.
He did not cite any specific reason for the delay but said officials had informed him that Mr. Snowden’s situation “was not a standard process” and that the paperwork needed to allow him to depart the airport.
Mr. Kucherena said he had met with Mr. Snowden and described him as being in good spirits, with plans to learn Russian. He said he had brought him the copy of “Crime and Punishment.”
The Federal Migration Service declined to comment on the status of Mr. Snowden’s asylum request. He has been staying at the airport’s international transit zone since June 23, having flown here from Hong Kong one step ahead of an extradition request from the United States.
While the bureaucratic process has unfolded slowly, Russian officials, including President Vladimir V. Putin, have made clear that they have no intention of extraditing him to the United States – a position that has infuriated the Obama administration.
Mr. Putin has insisted that Mr. Snowden’s presence in Russia should not harm relations between the two countries, even as the White House has signaled that President Obama, amid mounting frustration, may cancel a planned summit meeting in Moscow in September.
Russian officials this week issued public statements noting that the United States has routinely rejected extradition requests from the Russian government, apparently to send a message that the Americans have no right to expect Mr. Snowden’s repatriation.
Andrew Roth and Noah Sneider contributed reporting.