On Thursday, Edward J. Snowden gets the temporary refugee status in Russia .This was the first formal refuge from another government despite objections from the United States as divulged by his lawyer. He left the United States in June this year and began leaking specifics of the National Security Agency’s surveillance data.
Former intelligence contractor wanted for leaking details of surveillance was trapped for a month in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.
Now, Mr. Snowden can move freely within Russia for a period of one year. The facts were made public in a telephone interview by Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer helping Mr. Snowden with the request for asylum.
He had been held up in the international transit zone of the airport since he arrived on June 23 there. An extradition request was filed by the United States in his first stopover in Hong Kong.
President Vladimir V. Putin has made it clear that they have no intention of extraditing Snowden to the United States. This has enraged the U.S. administration.
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