Moscow may shelter Snowden
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 30, 2013
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Edward Snowden. [File photo] |
Fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden could be moved to a temporary refugee shelter outside Moscow if his request for asylum was approved, the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) said Monday.
"The thing is that there are no centers accommodating refugees in Moscow," FMS Moscow department chief Olga Kirillova said at a press conference.
Sheremetyevo airport, where Snowden has been over the past month, is administratively located in the Moscow region.
"He has filed his request with the Moscow regional unit of the Federal Migration Service," the Interfax news agency quoted Kirillova as saying."I cannot say where he may be assigned."
Snowden faces espionage charges in the U.S. after disclosing its classified intelligence surveillance project code-named PRISM.
Snowden filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia earlier this month.
On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul said Washington had asked Russia not to "extradite" Snowden but to "hand him over" to U.S. authorities. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday Russia would not hand Snowden over to his home country.
Vladimir Volokh, head of the FMS' public council, said Friday Snowden could be stranded in Sheremetyevo airport for another half a year to wait for his legal status to be clarified.
"Russian law does not stipulate the duration of time for which a foreign citizen may stay in the airport's transit zone or liability for staying in a transit zone without documents," the Justice Ministry said in a statement Saturday.
According to the FMS, 276 people have filed temporary asylum application in the first six months of this year, and 123 requests were approved.
