WASHINGTON, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – The United States is communicating with several countries that could offer former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden political asylum or be a stopover, about his possible return home to face criminal charges of leaking state secrets, a US State Department spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Washington has spoken with “a broad range of countries” that could either serve as “transit spots or final destinations” for Snowden, who is holed up in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport while trying to elude US authorities, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing.
She declined to specify which countries the United States has contacted about Snowden’s fate but said Washington’s message to these governments has been that Snowden’s “right place is to be returned here” to face charges of leaking classified information about a secret government surveillance program.
Psaki’s comments came after the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, which has provided a lawyer to consult Snowden, published a list earlier Tuesday of 21 countries that the fugitive former CIA employee had appealed to for possible political asylum.
They also came a day after Snowden accused US President Barack Obama of “pressuring the leaders” of countries that could grant him refuge.”
South American nations Bolivia and Venezuela have expressed possible support, but 11 of the 21 governments on the Wikileaks list have said Snowden must be on their respective territories in order to request political asylum, CNN reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, three of the countries – Brazil, India and Poland – have rejected his request outright.
In addition to Cuba, Ecuador and Iceland, which had been rumored to be his preferred destinations, the list also includes countries in Western Europe such as Austria, France, Germany and Italy. China is also on the list.
Snowden had asked for asylum in Russia, but a Kremlin spokesman said Tuesday that the American withdrew his request after Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly stated Monday that Snowden must stop “harming our US partners” with the leaks.
The United States has revoked Snowden’s passport, but US officials have said Washington would issue him a one-time travel document in order to travel home to face a “free and fair trial.”
