01:07Russia: Snowden case not subject to cold war spy agreements
Russia: Snowden case not subject to cold war spy agreements
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured press that during a meeting with US counterpart Barack Obama no request for extradition of whistleblower Edward Snowden was raised, Friday, in St. Petersburg.
Putin stated when asked about the Snowden debacle: “Snowden has not been convicted in Russia – how can we exchange him? We have exchanges for intelligence officers who found themselves in an embarrassing situation abroad for U.S colleagues who sit in our prisons. And this practice exists all over the world. But Snowden has not been convicted; he hasn’t committed any crimes in Russia. We did not even touch this subject in our conversation with president Obama today – we only talked about Syria. Once again I’d like to stress that Mr. Snowden came to Russia by accident. We didn’t invite him in here. He intended to go to Latin America and he would have done so but for your fellow countrymen intimidated everybody to such an extent that he [Snowden] got marooned in Russia. What did they expect to happen? Without an extradition agreement they expect us to extradite Snowden unilaterally? No, he has not committed any crimes in our territory. This is a very clear and obvious practice in international affairs. This can only be mutual.”
The former NSA agent resides in an undisclosed location in Russia, where he was granted temporary political asylum.
01:07Russia: Snowden case not subject to cold war spy agreements
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured press that during a meeting with US counterpart Barack Obama no request for extradition of whistleblower Edward Snowden was raised, Friday, in St. Petersburg.
Putin stated when asked about the Snowden debacle: “Snowden has not been convicted in Russia – how can we exchange him? We have exchanges for intelligence officers who found themselves in an embarrassing situation abroad for U.S colleagues who sit in our prisons. And this practice exists all over the world. But Snowden has not been convicted; he hasn’t committed any crimes in Russia. We did not even touch this subject in our conversation with president Obama today – we only talked about Syria. Once again I’d like to stress that Mr. Snowden came to Russia by accident. We didn’t invite him in here. He intended to go to Latin America and he would have done so but for your fellow countrymen intimidated everybody to such an extent that he [Snowden] got marooned in Russia. What did they expect to happen? Without an extradition agreement they expect us to extradite Snowden unilaterally? No, he has not committed any crimes in our territory. This is a very clear and obvious practice in international affairs. This can only be mutual.”
The former NSA agent resides in an undisclosed location in Russia, where he was granted temporary political asylum.