Moscow - The Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) has declined comments on reports that former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency employee Edward Snowden has filed a request for political asylum in Russia.
“No comment,” the FMS press service told Interfax on Thursday, July 31.
FMS chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said on July 23 that the FMS
treated any information concerning the extension of Snowden’s status in
Russia as confidential and would not disclose it.
Snowden fled the U.S. for Hong Kong in May 2013, where he published
information on U.S. special services’ Internet surveillance operations
and the tapping of telephone conversations in various countries.
The publication of this information by Snowden caused international
uproar. In particular, it turned out that the U.S. National Security
Agency (NSA) tapped telephone conversations of 35 high-ranking officials
in different countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The
U.S. has charged Snowden in absentia with theft of government property,
unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful
communication of classified intelligence to an unauthorized person. He
is facing up to 10 years in prison on each count.
Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum for one year on July 31,
2013. The Russian law stipulates that temporary asylum can be granted
for one year and can be extended for the same term annually.
Snowden received a document granting him temporary asylum for one year on Aug. 1, 2013 and left a Moscow airport the same day.
Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said on July 9, 2014 that Snowden had
appealed to the Federal Migration Service’s department for the Moscow
region for extending his stay in Russia. The lawyer did not specify if
Snowden would like to stay in Russia after July 31, 2014.
