Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor and whistle-blower who remains in hiding to evade prosecution in the United States, where he is wanted for sedition charges, could find a way out of the diplomatic impasse which has him holed up in Moscow's international airport: the presidential plane of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan president. Rumors have surfaced saying that Maduro, who arrives in Russia on Monday, could go so far as to fly out Snowden on his jet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference on Monday that Russia would not extradite Snowden to the US but struck a conciliatory note in saying that he had to cease the leaking of documents.
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"Russia does not hand over anybody and has no plans to do this in future...If he wants to go somewhere and some country will accept him, he is welcome to do it. If he wants to stay here, he has to meet one condition: stop his activities aimed at harming our American partners," Putin said.
A Kremlin source told reporters on Monday that Putin will discuss Snowden and the possibility of asylum with Maduro during his visit to the Kremlin on Tuesday. Maduro is in Russia to attend a two-day summit of gas producing nations.
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The Venezuelan president said last Wednesday at a public event in central Venezuela that that he was "almost certainly" prepared to grant asylum to Edward Snowden if he requests it. "If he asked us for it, we would think about it and we would almost certainly give it to him, because political asylum... is an international human rights institution to protect the persecuted," Maduro said.
"Have you asked yourselves what this young man did?" he continued. "He revealed very sensitive secrets that the United States is spying on everybody," he continued, according to Business Insider. "Now the United States is warning the world: 'Nobody should take in Snowden.'"
RELATED: Will Correa Offer Snowden Asylum?
Previously, it had seemed possible that Snowden might be able to receive asylum in Ecuador. The president of that country, Rafael Correa, had said his administration would analyze an official request made by Snowden and emphasized that his country's final decision would be a "sovereign" one. After congressmen in the US had called for an agreement giving Ecuador preferential trade status for certain goods not to be renewed if Correa gave Snowden asylum, Correa's administration announced it would not be "blackmailed" and waived the right to those preferences. But in past days, he has made comments which indicate he may not be ready to offer asylum.
"He doesn't have a passport," said Correa. "I don't know the Russian laws, I don't know if he can leave the airport, but I understand that he can't. At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities. If he arrives at an Ecuadorean embassy, we'll analyze his request for asylum."
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