US – Russia high-level talks will go ahead despite Edward Snowden’s asylum

US officials say they will go ahead with high-level talks with Russia on Friday despite Moscow’s decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden.

Some members of Edward Snowden’s family are applying for visas to visit him in Russia, his lawyer says.

Edward Snowden was granted asylum by Russia despite repeated requests from the US that he be returned to America.

He leaked details about a secret data-gathering programme.

The US state department said Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would hold talks on pressing bilateral and global issues with their Russian counterparts in Washington, including Syria and Iran’s nuclear programme.

The two sides were also to discuss Edward Snowden, it added.

President Barack Obama has meanwhile said he is “disappointed” that Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden.

Speaking during an interview for Tuesday’s broadcast of The Tonight Show on NBC, Barack Obama accused Moscow of occasionally adopting a “Cold War mentality”.

Barack Obama said: “What I say to President [Vladimir] Putin is, that’s the past and… we’ve got to think about the future. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.”

Edward Snowden’s whereabouts in Russia are not publicly known after he slipped away from Moscow’s international airport last week.

But his lawyer says he has now registered an address within Russian territory and his father, Lon Snowden, is waiting for a visa to visit him.

He said Edward Snowden wanted his father’s advice on what to do with his new life.

“We do not have a set date yet, but we have been working closely with Anatoly Kucherena, Ed Snowden’s attorney, on setting a definitive date which will be some time in August,” Mattie Fein, a representative for Lon Snowden, told the Reuters news agency.

Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to the former intelligence analyst has strained relations between Moscow and the US.

Edward Snowden leaked details of the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance programme which gathers data about emails and phone calls made by American citizens.

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