MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) – Fugitive former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden will most likely be granted temporary asylum status in Russia, a prominent pro-Kremlin lawyer who helped Snowden complete his application said Wednesday.
Snowden, who faces prosecution in the United States for leaking highly sensitive classified data about the US National Security Agency's surveillance activities, submitted a request for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, having been holed up at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport transit zone since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.
“The reasons indicated in his application filed with the Federal Migration Service … make it unlikely he will be refused asylum,” lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters in Moscow. Snowden wrote in his application that he was being persecuted by the US government, and that he was “scared that he will be tortured or executed,” Kucherena said Tuesday.
He said Snowden was aware of Russian President Vladimir Putin's condition for allowing him to stay in Russia – that he would have to stop any activity aimed at "harming our US partners" – and that he was ready to comply with the condition.
"I believe we should trust him. Naturally, we can't sign any document with him to that effect," Kucherena said.
According to the lawyer, Snowden should receive an official document within seven days certifying that his application has been received and is being considered, after which he will be able to leave the airport.
Kucherena said the 30-year-old US fugitive was considering various options for his future, including a possible application for Russian citizenship.
The lawyer also said he did not think US-Russian relations would deteriorate over Snowden.
"Russia and the United States are two great powers, and I do not think our humane attitude toward a US citizen will damage relations between the two countries," he said.
Washington dismissed on Tuesday the notion that Snowden is being persecuted by the US government, and again called on Moscow to reject his request for asylum and send him back to the United States to stand trial.
Putin said Wednesday that Russia had warned Snowden not to “damage Russian-American relations,” saying they are more important than any intelligence scandal.
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