MOSCOW — The fugitive document-leaker Edward Snowden surfaced, even if behind closed doors, at Sheremetyevo International Airport on Friday afternoon, and in announcing to a group of visitors that he plans to seek asylum in Russia, he ensured that a problem neither Moscow nor Washington wants is not about to go away.
Snowden had hoped to go to Latin America, but as that prospect has come to appear more difficult, he is facing the more immediate challenge of getting out of the airport after nearly three weeks there. He told his guests that he sees Russian asylum as a short-term solution, in hopes that he can later make his way to Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia, which have offered him asylum.
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Edward Snowden wants to stay in Russia, says a lawmaker who attended a meeting behind closed doors in Moscow's airport.
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The big story
Officials fear that Snowden gained access to sensitive files that outline espionage operations against Chinese leaders and other critical targets.
Russia has been ambivalent at best about his presence here, as an unwelcome complication in already strained relations with the United States. But by late evening, Russian authorities seemed to be making the best of a difficult situation, as a line of officials sought out the media and voiced their support for asylum.
If asylum is granted, the Obama administration would be forced to decide how to react without ruining relations with Moscow entirely.
Snowden told his guests, they reported afterward, that he likes Sheremetyevo Airport well enough, but that he can’t stay cooped up forever. Russian officials said it may take them two or three more weeks to decide.
Snowden has been out of public sight since he arrived here from Hong Kong on June 23, a step ahead of American efforts to have him sent back to the United States for revealing classified information about data collection programs run by the National Security Agency.
But Thursday night he sent e-mail invitations to a group of defense lawyers, pro-Kremlin politicians and human rights advocates to meet him the next day at the airport. There he read a statement critical of the United States and told them of his hopes for Russian asylum.
And in a comment that seemed to raise more questions than answers, he repeated claims that as an NSA contractor, he “had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time.”
The White House said in a statement Friday that President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone about Snowden’s status and “a range of security and bilateral issues.”
Until now, Russia has been eager not to prolong Snowden’s stay, though it has been unwilling to return him to the United States. Moscow’s relations with Washington are complicated enough, politicians here have said, without a professed whistleblower and fugitive from prosecution standing between them.
“I do not want a human fate to hinge on the relations between two countries,” said Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s human rights commissioner and a participant in the meeting, “but at the same time it would be undesirable if relations between two countries hinged on one man’s will.”
The Kremlin insisted again that if he is to stay, Snowden must agree “to fully stop activities causing damage to our American partners and Russian-American relations,” in the words of Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.
Snowden had hoped to go to Latin America, but as that prospect has come to appear more difficult, he is facing the more immediate challenge of getting out of the airport after nearly three weeks there. He told his guests that he sees Russian asylum as a short-term solution, in hopes that he can later make his way to Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia, which have offered him asylum.
Video
Edward Snowden wants to stay in Russia, says a lawmaker who attended a meeting behind closed doors in Moscow's airport.
Latest on this storyThe big story
Officials fear that Snowden gained access to sensitive files that outline espionage operations against Chinese leaders and other critical targets.
Russia has been ambivalent at best about his presence here, as an unwelcome complication in already strained relations with the United States. But by late evening, Russian authorities seemed to be making the best of a difficult situation, as a line of officials sought out the media and voiced their support for asylum.
If asylum is granted, the Obama administration would be forced to decide how to react without ruining relations with Moscow entirely.
Snowden told his guests, they reported afterward, that he likes Sheremetyevo Airport well enough, but that he can’t stay cooped up forever. Russian officials said it may take them two or three more weeks to decide.
Snowden has been out of public sight since he arrived here from Hong Kong on June 23, a step ahead of American efforts to have him sent back to the United States for revealing classified information about data collection programs run by the National Security Agency.
But Thursday night he sent e-mail invitations to a group of defense lawyers, pro-Kremlin politicians and human rights advocates to meet him the next day at the airport. There he read a statement critical of the United States and told them of his hopes for Russian asylum.
And in a comment that seemed to raise more questions than answers, he repeated claims that as an NSA contractor, he “had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time.”
The White House said in a statement Friday that President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone about Snowden’s status and “a range of security and bilateral issues.”
Until now, Russia has been eager not to prolong Snowden’s stay, though it has been unwilling to return him to the United States. Moscow’s relations with Washington are complicated enough, politicians here have said, without a professed whistleblower and fugitive from prosecution standing between them.
“I do not want a human fate to hinge on the relations between two countries,” said Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s human rights commissioner and a participant in the meeting, “but at the same time it would be undesirable if relations between two countries hinged on one man’s will.”
The Kremlin insisted again that if he is to stay, Snowden must agree “to fully stop activities causing damage to our American partners and Russian-American relations,” in the words of Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.