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edward snowden
The US National Security Agency (NSA) began collecting Americans’ phone records in 2001, as part of far-reaching surveillance programmes launched by then-President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
However, the scope of the practice, continued under President Barack Obama, only became apparent in June when ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified US surveillance files.
A US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers
It emerged that a US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers.
This information, known as metadata, includes the numbers of the originating and receiving phone, the call’s duration, time, date and location – for mobiles, determined by which mobile signal towers relayed the call or text.
The contents of the conversation itself, however, are not covered. The surveillance applies to calls placed within the US, and calls between the US and abroad.
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Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden is being given an official pass to leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Russian reports say.
Russia’s Federal Migration Service is said to have issued a document, which he is due to receive shortly.
Edward Snowden is being given an official pass to leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport
Edward Snowden, 30, has been staying in transit since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.
Wanted by the US authorities for leaking details of government surveillance programmes, Edward Snowden recently requested temporary asylum in Russia.
He could leave the airport’s “sterile zone” in the next few hours, a source close to events told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Edward Snowden will be provided with new clothing, the source added.
The source added that the document would be handed to Edward Snowden by a lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena.
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The White House is urging Congress to reject an attempt to stop the NSA collecting Americans’ phone records.
With a key vote coming up, President Barack Obama’s spokesman said curbs on the NSA would “hastily dismantle” a vital counter-terrorism tool.
NSA chief General Keith Alexander spent Tuesday lobbying Congressmen to vote against the proposed measure.
Critics say NSA phone data collection is an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
The details of the programme were made public by Edward Snowden, who had worked for the NSA and is now a fugitive, awaiting a decision on his asylum application in Moscow.
House of Representatives Republican Congressman Justin Amash has introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill, which would block funding for the NSA’s programme to collect details of every call made by or to a US phone.
Justin Amash said: “My amendment blocks funding of NSA’s collection of personal data if that data does not pertain to a person under investigation.”
A vote on the amendment will take place on Wednesday.
Republican Congressman Justin Amash has introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill, which would block funding for the NSA’s programme to collect details of every call made by or to a US phone
Even if it passes the House, the measure is seen as unlikely to become law, as Barack Obama’s Democratic Party controls the Senate.
House Democrats John Conyers and Jared Polis supported the move, which they said “makes sure that innocent Americans’ information isn’t needlessly swept up into a government database”.
However, the White House said the measure would deprive the intelligence agencies of a key tool in preventing terror attacks.
“This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open or deliberative process,” said spokesman Jay Carney.
“We urge the House to reject the Amash amendment, and instead move forward with an approach that appropriately takes into account the need for a reasoned review of what tools can best secure the nation.”
NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on the eve of the vote in an attempt to persuade them to vote against.
Afterwards he told CNN: “What you can see is that everybody wants to ensure we protect civil liberties and privacy and defend this country.
“We have that responsibility, and the issue is, how do we do that? How do we take care of our people and protect our civil liberties and privacy? This is a tough issue.”
The issue has split the main parties, with Democrats and Republicans lining up on both sides of the debate.
Meanwhile it is thought possible that Russia will announce whether Edward Snowden has been successful in his application for temporary asylum in the country.
Edward Snowden has been in limbo in a Moscow airport for weeks, but his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena says Wednesday is the deadline for the Federal Migration Service to rule on his request.
A number of Latin American states say they are willing to offer the former intelligence systems analyst asylum, but the lawyer says Edward Snowden first needs Russian asylum in order to be able to travel, since the US has cancelled his passport.
The US has charged Edward Snowden with leaking classified information.
President Vladimir Putin has refused to hand him to US authorities, but says he can only stay in Russia if he stops leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.
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Vladimir Putin dived to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in a mini submarine to explore a shipwreck.
The Russian president boarded an underwater research vessel to make the half-hour dive to the wreck of the frigate, Oleg, which sank in the Gulf of Finland in 1869.
Vladimir Putin boarded an underwater research vessel to make the half-hour dive to the wreck of the frigate, Oleg, which sank in the Gulf of Finland in 1869
Vladimir Putin, who is fond of presenting himself to the people as a man of action, said the wreck, found in 2003, was well-preserved.
During the trip, Vladimir Putin also spoke about the fate of Edward Snowden, the former US spy agency contractor turned fugitive secrets leaker.
The president said that Edward Snowden was shifting towards stopping “political activity” directed against the United States. He had previously refused to hand Edward Snowden over to the US authorities, but said the fugitive’s situation remained unresolved after Washington had blocked his further movement.
Vladimir Putin said that Edward Snowden should stop activity harmful to the US if he wanted refuge in Russia, but now saw signs that the former contractor with the National Security Agency (NSA) was moving in this direction.
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Edward Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, officials say.
The Federal Migration Service confirmed he had completed the relevant paperwork at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where he has been for the past three weeks.
Edward Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia
Whistleblower Edward Snowden, 30, is wanted by the US for leaking details of government surveillance programmes.
He has no travel documents, so he has been unable to take up asylum offers from a number of Latin American states.
Edward Snowden’s application for temporary asylum was completed with the help of Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, who has strong links with the Kremlin.
Anatoly Kucherena said the fugitive had stated in the application that he faced possible torture and execution if he returned to the US.
According to Russian officials, Edward Snowden might be moved to a facility in the airport for accommodating refugees while his application was processed.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has refused to hand over Edward Snowden to the US authorities, but also said that he could only stay in Russia if he stopped leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.
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President Vladimir Putin has said the US authorities have in effect trapped Edward Snowden in Russia.
Vladimir Putin said fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden would leave if he was able to.
The 30-year-old former intelligence analyst has been offered asylum in a number of Latin American states, but has no documents with which to leave the transit zone at Moscow airport.
The US has charged Edward Snowden with leaking classified information.
Vladimir Putin has refused to hand over the fugitive to the US authorities, but says he can only stay in Russia if he stops leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.
The Russian president said there were signs that Edward Snowden was “changing his position”.
However, he added that Edward Snowden did not want to stay in Russia but wanted to take up residence in “another country”.
Asked what Edward Snowden’s future was, the Russian president said: “How should I know? It’s his life.”
“He came to our territory without invitation. And we weren’t his final destination… But the moment he was in the air… our American partners, in fact, blocked his further flight,” Vladimir Putin said.
“They have spooked all the other countries, nobody wants to take him and in that way, in fact, they have themselves blocked him on our territory.”
Edward Snowden has been stuck in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport since arriving from Hong Kong in June
Edward Snowden has been stuck in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport – reportedly staying at the airport’s Capsule Hotel – since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.
The American has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have turned down his request.
However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take him in.
But Edward Snowden is unable to leave the transit zone without asylum documents, a valid passport or a Russian visa – he reportedly has none of these.
And some European countries are likely to close their airspace to any plane suspected of carrying the fugitive.
At a news conference on Friday, Edward Snowden said he was seeking temporary asylum in Russia before he could safely travel to Latin America. However, Moscow officials say they have so far received no such request.
Edward Snowden’s leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents has led to revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
The documents have also indicated that both the UK and French intelligence agencies allegedly run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.
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Edward Snowden has been holding a meeting with leading human rights groups and lawyers at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.
The fugitive US intelligence leaker requested the meeting with around 10 activists in the airport transit zone.
Edward Snowden told activists he was seeking political asylum in Russia. He had earlier dropped his application when Moscow said he could stay only if he stopped leaking US secrets.
The Kremlin reiterated this condition on Friday.
“Mr. Snowden could hypothetically stay in Russia if he first, completely stops the activities harming our American partners and US-Russian relations and second, if he asks for this himself,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Edward Snowden is wanted by the US on charges of leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.
He has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have turned down his request.
However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take him in.
It is thought he is considering seeking political asylum in Russia because he cannot fly out of Moscow.
Edward Snowden has been holding a meeting with leading human rights groups and lawyers at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow
“He wants to stay here until he can fly to Latin America,” Tatyana Lokshina of Human Rights Watch is quoted as saying.
Edward Snowden, 30, is unable to leave the transit zone without asylum documents, a valid passport or a Russian visa, none of which he reportedly has.
He has reportedly been stuck in transit since arriving in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23.
On Friday, the first photo in three weeks of Edward Snowden emerged. It was taken by Tatyana Lokshina during the airport meeting.
Other activists present at the gathering included Sergei Nikitin, the head of Amnesty International’s Russia office, prominent Moscow lawyer Genri Reznik and Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin.
A large press scrum gathered at the airport ahead of the meeting, while Interfax reported Edward Snowden had moved from his room in the airport’s Capsule Hotel to attend the meeting.
Tatyana Lokshina earlier posted the text of Edward Snowden’s invitation email on her Facebook page.
In the message, Edward Snowden complained that the US government was waging an “unlawful campaign” to prevent him from securing asylum.
“This dangerous escalation represents a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America or my own personal security, but to the basic right shared by every living person to live free from persecution,” the message read.
The email said the fugitive wanted to discuss the “next steps forward” in his situation.
It also instructed those attending to bring a copy of the invite and identification papers, as “security will likely be tight at this meeting”.
The meeting was not open to the press. Edward Snowden said he planned to address journalists at a later stage.
Edward Snowden had previously applied for Russian asylum but President Vladimir Putin said he would only be welcome if he stopped “his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners”.
Even if a country accepted Edward Snowden’s application, getting there could prove difficult.
Last week, several European countries refused to allow the jet of Bolivian president Evo Morales to cross their airspace on its way back from Moscow – apparently because of suspicions that Edward Snowden was on board.
Washington seeks to prosecute Edward Snowden over the leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents.
The leaks have led to revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
They have also revealed that both the UK and French intelligence agencies allegedly run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.
The case has strained relations between the US and China.
President Barack Obama said on Thursday he was “disappointed” that China had chosen not to hand over Edward Snowden to the US authorities when he was in Hong Kong in June.
A US government official said the decision had undermined calls for co-operation between the two countries.
But China said Hong Kong – which allowed Edward Snowden to leave for Russia – had acted in accordance with the territory’s law.
“Its approach is beyond reproach,” Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi said.
The US expresses its “disappointment” over China’s failure to hand over fugitive Edward Snowden.
After talks with senior Chinese officials, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said Beijing’s actions undermined “trust” in bilateral ties.
China said Hong Kong – which allowed to Edward Snowden to leave Russia – had acted in accordance with the territory’s law.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has been accused of working with US intelligence bodies to help intercept users’ data.
Citing the latest secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden, The Guardian newspaper said Microsoft had worked with the FBI and the NSA to facilitate access to information.
The newspaper claimed Microsoft allowed the NSA to circumvent its system of email encryption.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be currently staying at a Moscow airport
It also said information had been made available through access to cloud storage service SkyDrive and chat service Skype.
In response, the company said in a statement: “Microsoft does not provide any government with blanket or direct access to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product.”
It added that it had provided customer data only in response to lawful government requests.
William Burns was speaking after the two-day talks with the Chinese officials on trade and cyber security in Washington.
“We were disappointed with how the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong handled the Snowden case, which undermined our effort to build the trust needed to manage difficult issues,” he said.
In response, Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi said Hong Kong’s actions were in accordance with its law.
“Its approach is beyond reproach,” Yang Jiechi added.
The row over Edward Snowden has strained relations between the US and China.
Washington wants to prosecute Edward Snowden over the leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be currently staying at a Moscow airport.
He has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have turned down his request.
However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take Edward Snowden in.
DuckDuckGo, the little known U.S.-based search engine, sets itself aside from its giant competitors such as Google and Yahoo, by not sharing any of its clients’ data with searched websites.
Web-users who want to protect their privacy have been switching to a small unheard of search engine in the wake of the ‘Prism’ revelations.
This means no targeted advertising and no skewed search results.
Aside from the reduced ads, this unbiased and private approach to using the internet is appealing to users angered at the news that U.S. and UK governments (the NSA in the U.S. and GCHQ in the UK), have direct access to the servers of big search engine companies, allowing them to ‘watch’ users.
Within just two weeks of the NSA’s operations being leaked by Edward Snowden, DuckDuckGo’s traffic had doubled – from serving 1.7 million searches a day, to 3 million.
“We started seeing an increase right when the story broke, before we were covered in the press,” said Gabriel Weinberg, founder and CEO, speaking to The Guardian.
Gabriel Weinberg, 33, had the idea for the company in 2006, while taking time out to do a stained-glass making course. He had just sold successful start-up Opobox, similar to Friends Reunited, for $10 million to Classmates.com.
While on the course Gabriel Weinberg realized that the teacher’s “useful web links” did not tally up with Google’s search results, and realized the extent of the personalized skewing of results per user.
From there he had the idea to develop a “better” search engine, that does not share any user information with any websites whatsoever.
Search data, Gabriel Weinberg told The Guardian, “is arguably the most personal data people are entering into anything. You’re typing in your problems, your desires. It’s not the same as things you post publicly on a social network”.
DuckDuckGo sets itself aside from its giant competitors by not sharing any of its clients’ data with searched websites
DuckDuckGo, named after an American children’s tag game Duck Duck Goose (though not a metaphor), was solo-founded by Gabriel Weinberg in 2008, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
He self-funded it until 2011 when Union Square Ventures, which also backs Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Kickstarter, and a handful of angel investors, came on board.
The team has expanded to a few full-time people, many part-time contributors and a bunch of open-source contributors.
“If you’re wondering how you would turn that into a verb…Duck it!” Gabriel Weinberg says on the company website.
Gabriel Weinberg, who lives in Paoli, a suburb of Philadelphia, PA, with his wife and two children, explains that when other search engines are used, your search terms are sent to that site you clicked on; this sharing of information is known as “search leakage”.
“For example, when you search for something private, you are sharing that private search not only with your search engine, but also with all the sites that you clicked on (for that search),” he points out on his website.
“In addition, when you visit any site, your computer automatically sends information about it to that site (including your User agent and IP address). This information can often be used to identify you directly.
“So when you do that private search, not only can those other sites know your search terms, but they can also know that you searched it. It is this combination of available information about you that raises privacy concerns,” he says.
The company offers a search engine, like Google, but which does not traffic users, which has less spam and clutter, that showcases “better instant answers”, and that does not put users in a “filter bubble” meaning results are biased towards particular users.
Currently, 50% of DuckDuckGo’s users are from the U.S., 45% from Europe and the remaining 5% from Asia-Pacific (APAC).
On June 3, the company reported it had more than 19 million direct queries per month and the zero-click Info API gets over 9million queries per day.
It has partnerships with apps, browsers and distributions that include DuckDuckGo as a search option: Browsers, distributions, iOS, and Android. Companies can use DuckDuckGo for their site search, and the firm offers an open API for Instant Answers based on its open source DuckDuckHack platform.
Speaking on U.S. radio channel, American Public Media, Gabriel Weinberg said: “Companies like DuckDuckGo have sprung in the last couple years to cater to the growing number of data dodgers.
“There’s pent up demand for companies that do not track you.”
User feedback on the company website say the search engine reminds them of the early days of using Google; it’s like an “honorable search site to complement Wikipedia”; and other are “amazed” that a search engine company is “doing exactly the right thing”.
Critics of the company remain cautious of the sudden surge in success, however, pointing out that 3 million searches per day is just a “drop in the ocean” compared with the 13 billion searches Google does every day.
Writing on his website, Danny Sullivan, who runs the Search Engine Land site and analyses the industry, said big companies like Ask.com and Yahoo had tried pro-privacy pushes before and failed to generate huge interest.
According to a Russian politician, Edward Snowden has accepted an offer of political asylum from Venezuela.
Unofficial spokesman for the Kremlin Alexei Pushkov tweeted today that Edward Snowden, believed to be in Russia and wanted by the US authorities for leaking security secrets, is keen to take up the offer, AP reported.
The tweet was removed a few minutes after it was posted.
Soon after the tweet’s disappearance he sent another message saying his claim was based on a report from the state all-news television channel Vesti.
However, no such information could be found on Vesti’s website and no Russian news agency reported that Vesti had ever said it.
The TV channel could not immediately be reached for comment and the Kremlin declined comment on today’s developments.
Edward Snowden, 30, who revealed details of a US intelligence program to monitor internet activity, went to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on June 23 and was believed to be headed for Cuba.
But he did not board that flight is believed to have been stranded in the airport’s transit lounge ever since.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had already offered asylum to Edward Snowden while Bolivia and Nicaragua said they too would grant asylum to the American fugitive.
Ecuador said it will consider any asylum request.
Nicolas Maduro said it is perhaps the world’s “first collective humanitarian asylum” with various countries saying: “Come here!”
But the United States has cancelled Edward Snowden’s passport and it is unclear if he has travel documents he would need to leave Moscow.
Edward Snowden has accepted an offer of political asylum from Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro said Edward Snowden “will have to decide when he flies here, if he finally wants to travel here”.
On Friday he said: “As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) … persecution from the empire.”
Nicolas Maduro made the offer during a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela’s independence. It was not immediately clear if there were any conditions to Venezuela’s offer.
“In the name of America’s dignity … I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden,” Nicolas Maduro proclaimed during a military parade marking the country’s Independence Day.
“He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world,” Nicolas Maduro said.
But the Obama administration said yesterday that U.S. diplomats are working behind the scenes to make it difficult for Edward Snowden to find safe harbor in any of the nations that have offered him asylum.
Edward Snowden has received a temporary travel document to fly to Caracas, Venezuela, and both Bolivia and Nicaragua have also offered him political asylum, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters during his regular briefing that the United States will do what it can to stop him.
“The United States has been in touch via diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries through which Mr. Snowden might transit or which might serve as final destinations for Mr. Snowden,” Jay Carney said.
U.S. diplomats, he added, have “made very clear that he has been charged with a felony, or with felonies, and, as such, he should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel other than travel that would result in him returning to the United States”.
It’s not clear whether the Obama administration is hoping a Latin American nation will double-cross Snowden and offer him up to Washington after he arrives from Russia.
But the U.S., Jay Carney said, is still working to persuade Moscow to short-circuit the process and turn the fugitive over before he can leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 airport.
Sources say Edward Snowden will not be allowed to board the only Aeroflot plane that offers direct connections to Caracas, a regular service to Cuban capital Havana.
The routing overflies both the EU and the US and there are fears the plane will be denied rights to Western airspace, and forced to land, leading to Edward Snowden’s arrest.
The direct distance from Moscow to Caracas is 6,175 miles but it appeared too far for Edward Snowden.
The escape route for Edward Snowden is fraught with problems.
With Russia getting publicly impatient with Edward Snowden’s presence in its transit zone, his escape route is a logistical nightmare.
“Instead of going west to Venezuela, his obvious option is east to Vladivostok and then across the Pacific to Caracas,” said one source.
It would mean Russia allowing him to formally enter its territory, which so far it has refused to do, unwilling to upset the US.
This would also involve a 14,200 mile detour and a routing that would bring him close to the US state of Hawaii posing a risk to any private plane willing to take him on a route where there are no scheduled services.
One option for the fugitive is to charter a private plane.
Former CIA analyst Allen Thomson said: “A private plane certainly looks like the best bet to me.”
“It has the advantage of simplicity and minimum involvement by the Russian government,” Mother Jones reported.
As Allen Thomson told Foreign Policy, Edward Snowden could avoid US-influenced airspace by flying north to the Barents Sea, through the Denmark Strait, head soutwhile avoiding Canada’s Newfoundland, until getting to the east of the Windward Islands, then squeezing through between islands.
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Nicaragua and Venezuela have offered political asylum to US fugitive Edward Snowden.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said his country would give asylum Edward Snowden, who is believed to be holed up in a transit area of Moscow airport.
Meanwhile Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country would do so “if circumstances permit”.
WikiLeaks said Edward Snowden had applied to six additional countries on Friday.
The whistleblowing website said it would not name the countries “due to attempted US interference”.
Edward Snowden, 30, has already asked 21 countries for asylum, most of whom have turned down his request.
But even if a country accepted the American’s application, getting there could prove difficult as the European airspace could be closed to any aircraft suspected of carrying the fugitive.
Earlier this week, several European countries reportedly refused to allow the Bolivian president’s jet to cross their airspace on its way back from Moscow – apparently because of suspicions that Edward Snowden was on board.
President Nicolas Maduro made his announcement in a speech on Venezuela’s Independence Day.
“As head of state and government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young US citizen Edward Snowden so he can come to the fatherland of Bolivar and Chavez to live away from the imperial North American persecution,” Nicolas Maduro said.
The US wants to prosecute Edward Snowden over the leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents.
Nicaragua and Venezuela have offered political asylum to US fugitive Edward Snowden
Earlier Daniel Ortega said Nicaragua had received an application at its embassy in Moscow.
“We are open, respectful of the right to asylum, and it is clear that if circumstances permit it, we would receive Snowden with pleasure and give him asylum here in Nicaragua,” Agence France-Presse quoted the Nicaraguan president as saying.
Daniel Ortega was a fierce opponent of the US during his first period as Nicaragua’s president in the 1980s, after the left-wing Sandinista movement came to power.
Bolivia, which had also suggested it might offer Edward Snowden asylum, saw its presidential plane barred from European airspace on Tuesday.
There was speculation Edward Snowden was on the plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales back from Russia to La Paz earlier this week.
“Edward Snowden has applied to another six countries for asylum,” tweeted WikiLeaks, which has been helping the former CIA contractor.
“They will not be named at this time due to attempted US interference.”
The US has been blamed for being behind the decision by France, Portugal, Italy and Spain to close its airspace to Bolivia’s president, whose plane was grounded in Austria for 13 hours as a result.
Earlier on Friday, Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo admitted he and the other European countries had been told that Edward Snowden was on board – but refused to say who gave out the information.
He denied Spain had closed its airspace to the presidential plane, explaining that the delay in Austria meant the flight permit had expired and needed to be renewed.
His comment is the first official recognition by the European states that the incident with Evo Morales’ plane was connected with the Snowden affair.
It has been widely condemned by President Morales and several other South American nations, who were critical of the US.
Evo Snowden arrived in the Moscow airport from Hong Kong last month.
He revealed himself to be responsible for the leaking of classified US intelligence documents that revealed a vast surveillance programme of phone and web data.
The documents have also led to allegations that both the UK and French intelligence agencies run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.
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It seems that fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden could be living in luxury at a hotel at a Moscow airport.
The Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo picks travelers up from the airport, transports them in a bus and houses them on a sealed floor, ensuring that they never step on Russian soil.
It has a fitness centre, games room, library, Turkish/steam bath, and indoor pool.
The hotel is just 35 minutes from central Moscow and with 493 rooms, it is one of the largest in the area.
Edward Snowden is thought to be hiding in the Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo
Guests can treat them self to a massage and have LCD televisions in each room.
Edward Snowden requested asylum in Russia after he leaked papers revealing many of America’s secrets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden political asylum – as long as he stops damaging “our American partners” with his leaks.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” said the Kremlin leader, defying a specific U.S. request.
“If he [Edward Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
Vladimir Putin showed he does not want to provoke a new Cold War in relations with the U.S. by firmly insisting Edward Snowden should stop his disclosures on covert operations which have caused embarrassment to America and infuriated the country’s allies in the EU.
Icelandic lawmakers have put legislation on the table that would make NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a citizen of the polar country.
Member of Iceland’s parliament Ögmundur Jónasson first made the proposition this morning, the last day before the 63-member legislative body begins their summer leave.
Granting citizenship to Edward Snowden, who admits to revealing key details of U.S. surveillance activities would circumvent the rule that he must be on Icelandic soil to apply for asylum there.
The same tactic helped get eccentric chess master Bobby Fischer to Iceland from Japan in 2005 to escape U.S. prosecution for breaking sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia, according to 21st Century Wire.
Ögmundur Jónasson, whose liberal Left-Green Party is backing the proposal along with the Pirate Party and Brighter Future Party, put the issue before the Judicial Affairs Committee, but the idea received minimal support.
“We wanted to do this earlier,” wrote Pirate Party politician Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson on his Facebook page.
“But citizenship is an extremely delicate issue when it’s granted by parliament instead of granted through ordinary legal processes.”
Iceland’s parliament, known as Althing, saw three Pirate Party members elected in 2013. NPR billed the party as an “international online freedom movement”.
Ögmundur Jónasson argued to parliament on Thursday that Edward Snowden “is now being chased and has nowhere to go”, according to Icelandic media.
Icelandic lawmakers have put legislation on the table that would make NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a citizen of the polar country
Edward Snowden, 30, also has a friend in former Icelandic presidential candidate Asthor Magnusson, who is collecting signatures from Icelanders as part of a petition to make his a citizen.
“I appeal to the oldest parliament in the world, the Althing in Iceland to grant a citizenship to Edward Joseph Snowden and issue him with travel documents for safe passage to Reykjavik,” Asthor Magnusson wrote in an appeal to Parliament, according to RT News.
“As matters have developed, I think that Icelanders should say <<This is enough: We support open society and human rights>>. It’s a basic human right to grant this man asylum in Iceland.”
The ruling Conservative and Moderate parties could halt the bill. And some have speculated that the country’s president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, could succumb to pressure purportedly being placed on international leaders by the U.S. government and veto the legislation.
Not surprisingly, Iceland also plays host to the website WikiLeaks, another well-known whistleblowing foe of the world’s intelligence community.
WikiLeaks has become a sort of public relations face for Edward Snowden, who remains in hiding.
On Monday, WikiLeaks released a letter they say was penned by Edward Snowden.
“I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many,” Edward Snowden wrote in closing.
Members of the Icelandic parliament, it seems, may be among those “many” taking efforts to help Edward Snowden.
For now, Edward Snowden is believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport transit area, seeking asylum from more than a dozen countries.
Though stuck may be the wrong word. He is one of America’s most wanted fugitives, but it seems that Edward Snowden could be living in luxury at a hotel at a Moscow airport.
The Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo picks travelers up from the airport, transports them in a bus and houses them on a sealed floor, ensuring that they never step on Russian soil.
It has a fitness centre, games room, library, Turkish/steam bath, and indoor pool.
The hotel is just 35 minutes from central Moscow and with 493 rooms, it is one of the largest in the area.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has threatened to close the US embassy in Bolivia after his official plane was banned from European airspace.
The warning came as four other South American leaders offered him support at a special summit on Thursday.
Evo Morales’ plane was forced to land in Austria on Tuesday after France, Portugal, Italy and Spain apparently barred it from flying through their airspace.
There were unfounded suspicions that US fugitive Edward Snowden was on board.
The Bolivian president blamed Washington for pressurizing European countries into refusing him passage.
“My hand would not tremble to close the US embassy,” President Evo Morales said.
“We have dignity, sovereignty. Without America, we are better off politically and democratically.”
His presidential jet was rerouted as he travelled from a meeting in Russia where he had suggested he would be willing to consider an asylum application from Edward Snowden.
Former CIA contractor Edward Snowden is believed to be holed up at the transit area of Moscow airport after leaking details of a vast US surveillance programme.
Evo Morales was joined by the presidents of Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Suriname at a meeting to discuss the plane dispute in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba on Thursday.
The leaders issued a statement after the meeting demanding an explanation from France, Portugal, Italy and Spain over their actions.
President Evo Morales has threatened to close the US embassy in Bolivia after his official plane was banned from European airspace
The US was not mentioned in the statement, but several of the leaders criticized the Americans in comments after the meeting.
“If this had happened to the president of the United States, it probably would have been grounds for war,” said Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
“They think they can attack, crush, destroy international law.”
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in a TV interview on Friday that Madrid had “no reason to apologize”.
He said airspace was never closed to Evo Morales’ plane, but that the delay in Austria meant the flight permit had expired and had to be renewed.
Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo also said in reference to Edward Snowden: “They told us he was inside [the plane].”
His comment is the first official recognition by the European states that the incident with Evo Morales’ plane was connected with the Snowden affair.
However, he did not say who had given the information to the Spanish authorities.
France earlier apologized for the plane incident, blaming it on “conflicting information”.
The US state department has not commented directly on the latest claims, saying only that Washington had “been in touch with a broad range of countries” over the Snowden case.
Demonstrators marched on the French embassy in La Paz on Wednesday, burning the French flag and demanding the expulsion of the ambassador to Bolivia.
Evo Morales’ plane took off from Vienna on Wednesday morning and arrived back in La Paz on Wednesday night.
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Russian spy Anna Chapman has proposed marriage to NSA leaker Edward Snowden via Twitter.
Anna Chapman was short and sweet: “Snowden, will you marry me?!”
The tweet came just as the world began to wonder if Edward Snowden was still in Anna Chapman’s country of Russia – where he’s been holed up in a Moscow airport for days – or if he’d managed to sneak aboard the flight of Bolivian President Evo Morales headed for South America.
Latin America, specifically Venezuela, is thought to be Edward Snowden’s last hope for asylum after withdrawing his petition to Russia Tuesday.
Since her own espionage controversy – along with nine others accused of spying in 2010 – Anna Chapman has led a busy life.
Anna Chapman was immediately catapulted into the limelight as her pictures were splashed around the world.
Russian spy Anna Chapman has proposed marriage to NSA leaker Edward Snowden via Twitter
The daughter of a senior KGB agent has become a celebrity in Russia since she returned in the summer of 2010.
She has previously appeared on the catwalk at Russian Fashion Week in Moscow clothed in a skin-tight leather ensemble.
Anna Chapman has also modeled, edited a magazine, given lectures and now runs a foundation.
Last year she appeared on the catwalk in the Mediterranean city of Antalya, a top Turkish vacation destination.
The controversial temptress has made many tongues wag since her name was first splashed across the front page of magazines and websites worldwide.
But Edward Snowden, at least in his pre-international controversy days, claims to have elicited some leering himself.
“I like my girlish figure that attracts girls,” Edward Snowden wrote as an 18-year-old.
That figure later won Edward Snowden an attractive dancer Lindsay Mills.
And though Lindsay Mills may not be a globetrotting diplomat’s daughter, if you look at her in just the right light she does resemble Anna Chapman.
According to the French daily Le Monde, France’s foreign intelligence service intercepts computer and telephone data on a vast scale, like the controversial US Prism programme.
The data is stored on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service, the paper says.
The operation is “outside the law, and beyond any proper supervision”, Le Monde says.
Other French intelligence agencies allegedly access the data secretly.
France’s foreign intelligence service intercepts computer and telephone data on a vast scale, like the controversial US Prism programme
It is not clear however whether the DGSE surveillance goes as far as Prism. So far French officials have not commented on Le Monde‘s allegations.
The DGSE allegedly analyses the “metadata” – not the contents of e-mails and other communications, but the data revealing who is speaking to whom, when and where.
Connections inside France and between France and other countries are all monitored, Le Monde reports.
The paper alleges the data is being stored on three basement floors of the DGSE building in Paris.
The operation is designed, say experts, to uncover terrorist cells. But the scale of it means that “anyone can be spied on, any time”, Le Monde says.
There is a continuing international furor over revelations that the US has been systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
The French government has sharply criticized the US spying, which allegedly included eavesdropping on official EU communications.
The scale of surveillance by America’s National Security Agency (NSA) emerged from classified intelligence documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The plane of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales plane on Moscow airport had to be diverted to Austria amid suspicion that US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden was on board, the Bolivian foreign minister has said.
Officials in both Austria and Bolivia said Edward Snowden was not on the plane.
France and Portugal reportedly refused to allow the Moscow-Bolivia flight to cross their airspace.
Edward Snowden is reportedly seeking asylum in Bolivia and 20 other countries to avoid extradition to the US.
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca told reporters on Tuesday that France and Portugal had closed their airspace over the “huge lie” that Edward Snowden, 30, was on board.
“We don’t know who invented this lie, but we want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales,” he said.
Austrian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Schallenberg said Edward Snowden was not on board the Bolivian leader’s aircraft.
The Bolivian defense minister, also on the flight, pilloried the US after the unscheduled landing.
“This is a hostile act by the United States state department which has used various European governments,” Ruben Saavedra said.
The plane of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales plane had to be diverted to Austria amid suspicion that Edward Snowden was on board
The Falcon aircraft was reportedly allowed to refuel in Spain before the jet went on to Vienna. President Evo Morales was said to be at the airport in Vienna discussing his return route to Bolivia early on Wednesday.
French officials said they could not confirm whether they had denied permission for President Evo Morales’ plane to fly over their territory. Portuguese officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Bolivian president had been on a visit to Moscow, where Edward Snowden, a former CIA contractor, has reportedly been holed up in an airport transit area since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.
President Evo Morales told Russian television that Bolivia had not yet received an application from Edward Snowden, however, his request, if sent, would be considered.
“Bolivia is ready to accept people who disclose espionage if one can call it this way,” he said.
President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been in Moscow for a meeting of gas-exporting countries.
Nicolas Maduro said he had not formally received an asylum request, but expressed support for Edward Snowden, saying he “deserves the world’s protection” from the United States.
“Why are they persecuting him? What has he done? Did he launch a missile and kill someone? Did he rig a bomb and kill someone? No. He is preventing war,” he told Reuters news agency.
Edward Snowden withdrew his application to Russia after President Vladimir Putin said he could stay only on condition that he stopped damaging Russia’s “American partners” with his leaks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He is wanted by the US on charges of leaking secrets he gathered while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s electronic spying agency.
On Tuesday, National Intelligence Director James Clapper apologized for telling Congress in March that the NSA did not have a policy of gathering data on millions of Americans.
He said in a letter to Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate intelligence committee, that his answer had been “clearly erroneous”.
The leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents prompted revelations that the US has been systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
WikiLeaks, which says it is advising Edward Snowden, said most of his asylum requests had been handed to the Russian consulate at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday for delivery to the relevant embassies in the capital.
Edward Snowden asylum requests:
- Rejected: Austria, Brazil, Finland, India, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland
- Withdrawn: Russia
- Pending: Bolivia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Nicaragua
- Unconfirmed: France, Venezuela
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Venezuela emerged today as the country most likely to shelter NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden from US justice.
President Nicolás Maduro said he was “willing in principle” to grant Edward Snowden asylum, declaring: “He didn’t kill anyone or plant a bomb.”
Nicolás Maduro said that the NSA whistleblower had not made a formal application for refuge but that he deserved protection under international law.
But the Venezuelan president, who is in Russia on a state visit, batted down speculation that he could spirit the data analyst away to Venezuelan capital Caracas on his presidential jet when he leaves Russia tonight.
Edward Snowden, 30, has so far applied for asylum in 21 countries but faces a thinning list of options after Finland, India, Ecuador and Poland rejected his plea and a number of others said applications can only be made in person on their home soil.
President Nicolás Maduro said he was “willing in principle” to grant Edward Snowden asylum
In the most positive news yet for Edward Snowden, Nicolás Maduro said: “He did not kill anyone and he did not plant a bomb… He only said a big truth to prevent wars.”
His comments came after Edward Snowden has abandoned his bid for asylum in Russia, hours after president Vladimir Putin said he would only be welcome if he stopped leaking the secrets of “our American partners”.
WikiLeaks today revealed Edward Snowden has begged 21 countries to take him in as he fights extradition to the US where he faces charges of espionage after leaking top-secret documents on US surveillance schemes.
The list includes Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Finland, France, Spain, Germany and Ireland.
“Snowden really asked to remain in Russia,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said.
“Learning yesterday of Russia’s position… he abandoned his intentions and his request to get the possibility to stay in Russia.”
Earlier, Vladimir Putin made it clear Russia would only consider his request if he stops “attacking our American partners” in an unusual gesture of solidarity with the US.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” said the Kremlin leader, defying a specific U.S. request.
“If he [Edward Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
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Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden has sent asylum requests to 21 countries, according to a statement published by WikiLeaks.
They include China, France, Ireland and Venezuela. Russia and Norway confirmed they had received applications.
But Russia said Edward Snowden later withdrew the application as the Kremlin had set conditions.
Edward Snowden accuses President Barack Obama of putting pressure on the countries to which he has applied.
The 30-year-old former intelligence systems analyst, who is holed up at Moscow airport, is wanted by the US on charges of leaking secrets.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to discuss Edward Snowden’s case in talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Brunei.
The WikiLeaks press release said that most of the asylum requests – including to Russia itself – were handed to the Russian consulate at Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday for delivery to the relevant embassies in Moscow.
The requests were submitted by Sarah Harrison, a British member of the WikiLeaks legal team acting as Edward Snowden’s representative, the statement added.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Edward Snowden withdrew the application to Russia because Moscow had said he should give up “anti-American activity”.
“After learning of Russian’s position yesterday, voiced by President Putin … he abandoned his intention [of staying] and his request to be able to stay in Russia,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that while Moscow “never hands over anybody anywhere”, Edward Snowden could only stay on condition that he stopped damaging Russia’s “American partners” with his leaks.
Edward Snowden has reportedly been in the transit area of Sheremetyevo since arriving there from Hong Kong on June 23.
Dmitry Peskov confirmed he was still there and had not crossed into Russian territory, adding that the former analyst had never been a Russian agent and had never worked with its intelligence services.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski said on Twitter his country had received an application but that he would not be recommending granting the request.
Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden has sent asylum requests to 21 countries
Norway’s foreign ministry later said its embassy in Moscow had received an application by fax which was “probably from him”.
But Norway, Poland, Germany, Austria, Finland and Switzerland said asylum requests could only be made on their soil.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is on a visit to Moscow, said Caracas had not yet received an asylum application from Edward Snowden but that he had “done something very important for humanity” and “deserved the world’s protection”.
“The world’s conscience should react, the world youth should react, the decent people who want a peaceful world should react, everyone should react and find solidarity with this young man who has denounced and altered the world that they [the US] pretend to control.”
Edward Snowden had previously submitted an application to Ecuador, whose embassy in London is sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and to Iceland.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa told the Agence France-Presse news agency on Monday that his country would process Edward Snowden’s asylum request if he managed to enter an Ecuadorean embassy.
However, if he can complete his asylum request on Russian territory, then “the situation can be processed and resolved there,” President Correa added.
Details have also emerged of a letter from Edward Snowden to President Rafael Correa, thanking Ecuador for guaranteeing “my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong – I could never have risked travel without that”.
Speaking in Tanzania on Monday, President Barack Obama said Moscow and Washington had held “high level discussions” about Edward Snowden, who he said had travelled to Moscow without valid documents.
Edward Snowden describes himself as “a stateless person”, accusing the US government of stopping him from exercising the “basic right…to seek asylum”.
“The president ordered his vice president to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions,” he is quoted by WikiLeaks as saying.
“This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.”
The leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents has led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
Asylum requests to 21 countries:
- Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Russia (withdrawn), Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela
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Edward Snowden accuses President Barack Obama of deception and taking away his basic rights as an American in a letter released by WikiLeaks.
The letter says Barack Obama – despite his public denials that he’d been “wheeling and dealing” with international parties over Edward Snowden – has dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to pressurize governments where the 30-year-old has sought asylum.
WikiLeaks today revealed they have applied to 21 countries in total on Edward Snowden’s behalf. The list includes Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Finland, France, Spain, Germany and Ireland.
It comes as Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa appeared to wash his hands of Edward Snowden saying his country is not considering his asylum request and that the former CIA analyst is Russia’s problem now.
Admitting Ecuador made a “mistake” in helping Edward Snowden flee Hong Kong in the first place, Rafael Correa appeared to backtrack on previous suggestions he was welcome, adding: “Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It’s not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia.”
Asked if he would like to meet Edward Snowden, Rafael Correa added: “Not particularly. He’s a very complicated person. Strictly speaking, Mr. Snowden spied for some time.”
His comments are in direct contrast to the open letter of thanks Edward Snowden issued hours earlier, before Rafael Correa’s views had been published.
“I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest,” Edward Snowden said in an undated Spanish-language letter sent to President Rafael Correa.
“No matter how many more days my life contains, I remain dedicated to the fight for justice in this unequal world. If any of those days ahead realize a contribution to the common good, the world will have the principles of Ecuador to thank.”
Hours after Rafael Correa’s comments, Finland became the first of today’s new list of potential safe havens to reject his plea for asylum saying such a request has to be made from inside the country.
WikiLeaks legal adviser Sarah Harrison is said to have led the petitions for asylum also made to India, Italy, Norway, Venezuela and Switzerland.
Edward Snowden accuses President Barack Obama of deception and taking away his basic rights as an American in a letter released by WikiLeaks
She also claims to have handled his current application in Russia and his previous request for assistance to China while he was hiding out in Hong Kong.
The long list suggests options are thin on the ground for the former NSA contractor and it appears – from his letter – that he is frustrated by the global community’s refusal to shelter him.
In it Edward Snowden complains that the US is illegally pursuing him for an act that was in the public interest.
“While the public has cried out support of my shining a light on this secret system of injustice, the Government of the United States of America responded with an extrajudicial man-hunt costing me my family, my freedom to travel, and my right to live peacefully without fear of illegal aggression,” it states.
Many critics seized on the letter’s syntax last night to claim it was a fake, written by someone in Britain.
Specifically, those doubting the letter’s authenticity pointed to this phrase: “For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum.”
An American English speaker would use the singular form, has, in relation to the United States.
After the internet erupted in a flurry of doubt, the word “have” was changed to “has” on the official statement on the WikiLeaks site.
Full text of letter released by WikiLeaks it claims is from Edward Snowden
“One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.
On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic “wheeling and dealing” over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.
This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.
For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.
In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.
I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.
Edward Joseph Snowden
Monday 1st July 2013”
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Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied to Russia for political asylum, Russian officials say.
Foreign ministry consul Kim Shevchenko said the request was made on Sunday night. The Kremlin has made no comment.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin said Edward Snowden was welcome to stay as long as he stopped “inflicting damage on our American partners”.
The US has not yet made any comment on the latest developments.
President Barack Obama, speaking earlier in Tanzania, said Washington and Moscow had held “high level” discussions about Edward Snowden.
Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied to Russia for political asylum
“We are hopeful the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions law enforcement have,” he told reporters, pointing out that Edward Snowden does not have a valid passport or legal papers.
According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Edward Snowden’s application for asylum was handed to a consular official at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport late on Sunday evening.
The application was delivered by Sarah Harrison, a member of the WikiLeaks legal team acting as Edward Snowden’s representative, Kim Shevchenko was quoted by the news agency saying.
Russia’s Federal Migration Service has denied the report, which appeared in the New York Times earlier.
Edward Snowden has reportedly been in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport since arriving there from Hong Kong on June 23.
He flew there soon after revealing himself to be the source behind the leaking of thousands of classified documents showing the extent of US email and telephone surveillance.
It was thought he had been seeking asylum in Ecuador, whose embassy in London is sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who is also wanted by the US.
Edward Snowden faces charges of espionage in the US.
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President Vladimir Putin has told fugitive Edward Snowden to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to remain in Russia.
Vladimir Putin said Moscow had never extradited anyone before and “has no intention to do so”, adding Edward Snowden was free to go if granted asylum elsewhere.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel.
The US wants to prosecute him over the leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents.
The leaks have led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
This weekend, Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper and Britain’s The Guardian newspaper publicized allegations that the US has been spying on its EU allies.
The revelations have angered many EU countries which are demanding a response from Washington.
France’s President Francois Hollande has warned that negotiations over a major EU-US trade deal planned for next week could be threatened unless Washington can guarantee the spying stops “immediately”.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” Vladimir Putin told a news conference in Moscow.
Vladimir Putin has told fugitive Edward Snowden to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to remain in Russia
“If he [Edward Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
It appears President Vladimir Putin is keen to avoid damaging relations with Washington over the Snowden case.
The Russian president also stressed Edward Snowden “is not our agent and does not co-operate with us”, and Russian secret services “never worked with him and are not working with him now”.
Earlier, senior Russian official Nikolai Patrushev said both President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, had told the chiefs of their security services to seek a resolution to the stand-off over Edward Snowden.
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, told Russian media that the FSB and the FBI had been told to “keep in contact and find solutions”, but warned there was no simple solution to the situation. The FBI refused to comment.
Vladimir Putin was speaking at the same time President Barack Obama confirmed to reporters that Washington had held “high level” discussions with Russia about Edward Snowden.
“We don’t have an extradition treaty with Russia,” he told reporters while on a visit to Tanzania.
“On the other hand, Mr. Snowden, we understand, has travelled there without a valid passport and legal papers. And we are hopeful the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions law enforcement have.”
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According to the latest files leaked to The Guardian newspaper France, Greece and Italy have been the “targets” of US spying operations.
Citing a document by the National Security Agency (NSA), it says America’s non-European allies were also targeted.
The claim follows a report by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine saying EU offices had been bugged. EU leaders have demanded an explanation from the US.
Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden is said to have leaked the documents.
Edward Snowden – a former contractor for the CIA and the NSA – has since requested asylum from Ecuador. He is currently in Russia, marooned at Moscow’s airport after US authorities cancelled his passport.
In response to the allegations in Der Spiegel, senior EU officials, France and Germany have warned warning that relations with America could suffer.
The NSA said the US government would respond through diplomatic channels and discussions with the countries involved.
According to a 2010 secret document leaked to the Guardian, all in all 38 embassies and missions were described by the NSA as “targets”.
A report by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine revealed EU offices had been bugged
The paper says the file provides details of “an extraordinary range” of spying methods, including bugs implanted in electronic communications gear, taps into cable and the usage of specialized antennae.
The report mentions codenames of alleged operations against the French and Greek missions to the UN, as well as the Italian embassy in Washington.
The paper adds that the list of targets also includes “a number of other American allies, including Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey”.
The Guardian also cites another leaked report from 2007, which said a bug was placed in an encrypted fax machine at the EU mission in Washington.
According to the document cited by Der Spiegel – which it says also comes from the NSA – the agency spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the 27-member bloc’s UN office in New York.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that if confirmed, the activities would be “totally unacceptable”.
German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said the alleged US behavior “recalls the methods used by enemies during the Cold War”.
The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, warned that any such spying could have a “severe impact” on ties between the EU and the US.
The European Commission, which plays a key role in trade talks, has officially asked Washington to investigate the allegations.
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Germany and France are urging the US to come clean over claims that its intelligence services have been spying on key European Union offices.
A report in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine said EU offices in the US and Europe had been bugged.
Other “targets” included the French, Italian and Greek embassies in the US, according to leaked documents later mentioned by the Guardian newspaper.
Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden is said to be the source of the leaks.
Edward Snowden – who was also a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) – has since requested asylum in Ecuador. He is currently believed to be staying at Moscow’s airport.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that if the allegations carried by Der Spiegel were confirmed, such US activities would be “totally unacceptable”.
German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said the alleged US behavior was reminiscent of the Cold War.
“If the media reports are accurate, then this recalls the methods used by enemies during the Cold War,” she was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
“It is beyond comprehension that our friends in the United States see Europeans as enemies.”
Meanwhile, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz said he was “deeply worried and shocked” by the allegations.
He said any such spying could have a “severe impact” on ties between the EU and the US.
According to the document – which Der Spiegel says comes from the NSA – the agency spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the 27-member bloc’s UN office in New York.
The document also allegedly refers to the EU as a “target”.
Edward Snowden is believed to be currently staying at Moscow’s airport
Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that – according to one leaked report – 38 embassies and missions had been targeted.
The Guardian said the list included the French, Italian and Greek embassies, as well as a number of other American allies, including Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey.
It is not known what information US spies might have got, but details of European positions on trade and military matters would have been useful to those involved in negotiations between Washington and European governments.
There was particular concerns over claims a building used by ministers in Brussels had its phones tapped and internet hacked by US security services.
The European Commission, which plays a key role in trade talks, has asked Washington to investigate Der Spiegel‘s report.
“We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington DC and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports,” it said in a statement.
“They have told us they are checking on the accuracy of the information released yesterday and will come back to us.”
The US government has so far made no public comments on the allegations.
Der Spiegel quoted Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn as saying: “If these reports are true, it’s disgusting. The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies.”
Edward Snowden is believed to be currently staying at Moscow’s airport. He arrived there last weekend from Hong Kong, where he had been staying since he revealed details of top secret US surveillance programmes.
The US has charged him with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence.
Each charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
In an interview with ABC television, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dismissed remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry that people could die as a result of Edward Snowden’s revelations.
“We have heard this rhetoric. I myself was subject to precisely this rhetoric two, three years ago. And it all proved to be false,” he said.
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Martin Schulz, the head of the European Parliament, has demanded “full clarification” from the US over a report that key EU premises in America have been bugged.
Martin Schulz said that if this was true, it would have a “severe impact” on ties between the EU and the US.
The report, carried by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, cites a secret 2010 document alleging that the US spied on EU offices in New York and Washington.
Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked the paper, Der Spiegel says.
Edward Snowden – a former contractor for the CIA and also the National Security Agency (NSA) – has since requested asylum in Ecuador.
According to the document – which Der Spiegel says comes from the NSA – the agency spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the 27-member bloc’s UN office in New York.
The document also allegedly referring to the EU as a “target”.
It is not known what information US spies might have got, but details of European positions on to trade and military matters would have been useful to those involved in negotiations between Washington and European governments.
In a statement on Saturday, Martin Shultz said: “On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations.”
The European Parliament has demanded full clarification from the US over a report that key EU premises in America have been bugged
Der Spiegel also quotes Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn as saying: “If these reports are true, it’s disgusting. The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies.”
The US government has so far made no public comments on the Spiegel’s report.
Edward Snowden is believed to be currently staying at Moscow’s airport. He arrived there last weekend from Hong Kong, where he had been staying since he revealed details of top secret US surveillance programmes.
The US has charged him with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence.
Each charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
On Saturday, US Vice-President Joe Biden and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa held a telephone conversation about Edward Snowden’s asylum request.
According to Rafael Correa, Joe Biden had “passed on a polite request from the United States to reject the request”.
The left-wing Ecuadorian leader said his answer was: “Mr. vice-president, thanks for calling. We hold the United States in high regard. We did not seek to be in this situation.”
If Edward Snowden ever came to “Ecuadoran soil” with his request, he added, “the first people whose opinion we will seek is that of the United States”.
Quito earlier said it was willing to consider Edward Snowden’s request but only when he was physically in the Latin American country.
Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said only that Joe Biden and Rafael Correa had held a wide-ranging conversation.
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