Defying the United States, Russia granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum Thursday, allowing the National Security Agency leaker to slip out of the Moscow airport where he has been holed up for weeks in hopes of evading espionage charges back home.
Snowden now has plenty of room to roam throughout the sprawling country and continue the bizarre journey that has stretched across half the planet — from Hawaii to Hong Kong to the Russian capital.
Russia appears to have decided that ending Snowden’s airport limbo was worth intensifying a political stand-off with the United States. The White House said it was “extremely disappointed” and warned the decision could derail an upcoming summit between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The move places a significant new strain on already-corroded relations with Washington. Putin has been increasingly resentful of U.S. criticism and what he calls meddling in Russian affairs. The decision gives Russia cover to depict itself as a defender of human rights, pointing a finger to deflect criticism of its own poor record and tough crackdown on dissent.
Snowden himself made that argument. In a statement from WikiLeaks, which has been assisting him, Snowden was quoted as saying that “over the past eight weeks we have seen the Obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law, but in the end the law is winning.”
“I thank the Russian Federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations,” he said.
Snowden left his Hawaii home for Hong Kong about three weeks before revealing himself as the source of reports in the Guardian newspaper of a vast surveillance program by the NSA. As Washington put pressure on Hong Kong to extradite him, Snowden boarded a flight to Moscow on June 23, and booked a flight from Moscow to Cuba.
But he never got on that flight. The United States had cancelled his passport, so he lacked documents to board the plane or enter Russia — leaving Snowden stranded in the Russian airport’s no-man’s land.
The U.S. has demanded that Russia send Snowden home to face prosecution on espionage charges. Putin dismissed the request and made clear with the granting of asylum he has no intention of changing his mind.
“We are extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and private that Mr. Snowden be expelled and returned to the United States,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Some responses from Washington were more heated. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the asylum grant “a game-changer in our relationship with Russia … a sign of Vladimir Putin’s clear lack of respect for President Obama.”
Snowden had applied for Russian asylum, but Putin said it wouldn’t be considered unless he promised to stop leaking information, an indication he was sensitive to offending Washington. Snowden withdrew the request, but later made the promise and reapplied — effectively forcing Russia’s hand.
During all these weeks, officials said he was living in the airport’s transit zone. But despite the tens of thousands of passengers who pass through daily, there were no reported public sightings.
Nor did anyone apparently notice him leaving, except for someone who snapped a photo of his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, talking to blurry figures whom Kucherena later confirmed were Snowden and his WikiLeaks handler.
Kucherena declined to say where Snowden would reside, citing security concerns, but said he has American friends assisting him. Snowden reportedly earned high pay as an NSA contractor, but how much money he has on hand in a notoriously expensive city is unknown.
But he now has the right to work in Russia. Late Thursday, the founder of Russia’s Facebook-like social network site, VKontakte, made what sounded like a job offer.
“We will be happy if he decides to supplement the team of star programmers at VKontakte,” Pavel Durov wrote on his page.
Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia had offered Snowden asylum, and in mid-July he told a meeting with human rights figures that he wanted to visit all those countries. But Kucherena said Thursday that “he doesn’t have such plans, for now.”
Russian law says he would forfeit his asylum if he left Russia for “a place of residence.” Although the asylum document does not appear to give him the right to travel abroad, the Geneva Convention on Refugees, of which Russia is a member, says refugees must be provided documents allowing them to travel outside the country.
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