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The Nairobian

US fugitive Snowden ‘still in Moscow Airport

America

By BBC | Jun 26, 2013

Fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden is still in the transit area at Moscow airport, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has confirmed.

Mr Putin said the intelligence leaker remained a free man, and the sooner he chose a destination the better.

But a White House spokeswoman said Russia had a "clear legal basis" to expel Mr Snowden.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said his country would consider an asylum application from Mr Snowden.

"We say and advocate that someone in the world should stand with this young man and protect him, the revelations he has made with courage serve to change the world," he said.

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Russia says Mr Snowden has not yet passed through immigration, so technically is not yet under their jurisdiction.

The Russians have rejected American charges that they have assisted Mr Snowden.

China has also rejected similar charges, saying accusations that it allowed him to leave Hong Kong despite a warrant for his arrest were "groundless and unacceptable".

Mr Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday. He was expected to board a flight to the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Monday but never appeared.

The US has revoked Mr Snowden's passport, and he has applied for asylum in Ecuador.

He is being supported by the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, and is being accompanied by some of its legal advisers.

Ecuador is already giving political asylum at its London embassy to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

'Common law'

Russia has no extradition treaty with the United States, but National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that Washington wanted Moscow to extradite Mr Snowden without delay.

Earlier on Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry also called on Moscow to comply with common law practices between countries and send Mr Snowden to America.

"We would simply call on our friends in Russia to respect the fact that a partner nation- a co-member of the permanent five of the United Nations [Security Council] - has made a normal request under legal systems,'' he said.

But Mr Putin said that Russian security agencies "didn't work and aren't working" with Mr Snowden.

His comments back up those of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who earlier insisted that "we are in no way involved with either Mr Snowden, his relations with US justice, nor his movements around the world."

The 30-year-old IT expert is wanted by the US for revealing to the media details of a secret government surveillance programme, which he obtained while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

He is charged with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.

-BBC