Snowden applies for asylum in Russia

US whistleblower has applied for asylum in 15 countries, including Russia, New York Times quotes officials as saying.
US whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia, hours after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had no intention of handing him to the United States.

The New York Times on Monday quoted a Russian official as saying Snowden had applied for asylum in Russia, as well as 14 other countries that he did not name.

A Russian immigration official, who didn't want to be named, told Reuters news agency that a Wikileaks activist who is traveling with Snowden handed his application to a Russian consulate in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday.

It came hours after Putin said Moscow did not intend to hand him to US authorities, but said he must stop leaking information if he wished to remain in Russia.

Snowden "is not a Russian agent", Putin said on Monday, and that Russian intelligence services were not working with the fugitive American, who is believed to remain in the transit area at a Moscow airport eight days after arriving from Hong Kong.

"Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so," he said.

However, "if he wants to remain here there is one condition - he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me."

Putin said Snowden should choose his final destination and go there.

A senior Russian security official has said President Putin and US President Barack Obama had told FSB and the FBI, the security agencies of their respective countries, to seek a solution on the Snowden case, Russian RIA news agency reported.

Nikolai Patrushev, former head of the FSB and the current Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, made the statement during his appearance on Russia 24.

"Of course they do not have solutions that would suit both sides, that is why they have instructed the director of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov and head of FBI, Robert Mueller, to be in constant contact and come up with options for solutions."

Patrushev added that "the task at hand is not a simple one, since [the FSB and the FBI] need to find a solution within the norms of international law".

"Today there is no ready to use formula" he said



Al jazeera