Thread: Edward Snowden and his stay in Russia

Originally Posted by Doomer

I think he didn't ask for asylum but rather for temporary asylum. If I understand correctly these are two very different things from legal point of view
It is much easier to get temporary asylum in terms of time and substantiations but at the same time you are very limited in your rights in particular country that grants you the temporary asylum

I think the reality is that he simply can't make it to South America in a legitimate way.
Maybe if Russia assisted him by hiding him a way on a boat or something. But as a passenger on a commercial plane under his own identity, probably not.
So the reality is that he is stuck in Russia.
It's certainly a really good thing he decided to transit in Moscow and not some NATO or EU country capital!

Originally Posted by http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/26/315728/no-torture-death-penalty-for-snowden/

Russia has so far refused to extradite Snowden as there is no US-Russia extradition treaty.

"Russia has never extradited anyone and never will," said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reacting to the letter, Snowden's lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said that the Holder’s letter is not something new.

"Snowden's current situation is due to the actions of the US authorities, who annulled his passport," Kucherena said. "That is why he has ended up in the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport.

Originally Posted by Hanna

I think the reality is that he simply can't make it to South America in a legitimate way.
Maybe if Russia assisted him by hiding him a way on a boat or something.

Yeah, I can see the headlines: "Russia is smuggling US citizen to South America"
Snowden has taken Russia as a hostage and at the same time Russia seems to be he's only hope to survive