MOSCOW, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Fugitive U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden could extend his refugee status in Russia, his lawyer said Wednesday.
"Everything is fine, we are dealing with issues to extend the status, so everything is ok," Interfax news agency quoted Anatoly Kucherena as saying.
The attorney said Snowden was homesick, but did not say whether or not the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor had pled for the extension formally.
Vladimir Volokh, head of the Public Council of Russia's Federal Migration Service (FMS), said Monday Snowden had to make a written request for the extension, adding "no additional documents are filed if the circumstances have not changed."
On Tuesday, FMS head Konstantin Romodanovsky said the potential extension of political asylum for Snowden was a pure matter of the organization's Moscow bureau, not of the headquarters.
In an interview aired by a Brazilian TV station on Sunday evening, Snowden said he had requested asylum from Brazilian government, and he would be happy to live in Brazil if the government approves his request.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry denied Monday that Snowden had formally requested for asylum.
Snowden faces three felonies charges in the United States after he unveiled the country's highly classified intelligence project codenamed PRISM. He fled to Russia in June, 2013, only to find his passport revoked by Washington and was reportedly trapped in a Moscow airport's transit area for over a month before receiving a one-year asylum.
MOSCOW, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Federal Migration Service ( FMS) said Tuesday the potential extension of political asylum for fugitive U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden was a pure matter of its Moscow bureau, not of the headquarters.
"Whatever my employees decide, it will be in accordance with the (Russian) law," FMS head Konstantin Romodanovsky told reporters, in an apparent gesture to de-politicize the issue. Full story
MOSCOW, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Evidence revealed that the key part of NBC's recent interview with Edward Snowden was not aired, Russia Today website reported Sunday.
An analysis of the full interview afterwards showed that the media network condensed four hours' conversation with the former National Security Agency contractor into a 60-minute time slot and did not air it in primetime broadcast. Full Story
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden said he had no relationship with the Russian government and had given Moscow no intelligence documents after nearly a year of asylum there.
"I'm not supported by the Russian government. I'm not taking money from the Russian government," Snowden told NBC's Brian Williams, in his first interview with a U.S. television network that aired Wednesday evening. Full Story
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