Edward Snowden never crossed border into Russia / won't extradite him for the US [View all]

[Catherina]

Last edited Tue Jun 25, 2013, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Edward Snowden never crossed border into Russia, says foreign minister
Sergei Lavrov's comments about fugitive US whistleblower deepen mystery surrounding his whereabouts

Miriam Elder in Moscow
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 June 2013 11.17 BST


Edward Snowden's face is depicted by street artist Eclair Acuda Bandersnatch in San Francisco. Photograph: Steve Rhodes/Demotix/Corbis

Russia's foreign minister has said the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden never crossed the border into Russia, deepening the mystery over his suspected flight from Hong Kong.

"I would like to say right away that we have no relation to either Mr Snowden or to his relationship with American justice or to his movements around the world," Sergei Lavrov said.

"He chose his route on his own, and we found out about it, as most here did, from mass media," he said during a joint press conference with Algeria's foreign minister. "He did not cross the Russian border."

...

Russian news agencies, citing anonymous sources, reported that Snowden had arrived in Moscow on Sunday evening and met Ecuadorean diplomats at Sheremetyevo airport while awaiting a Monday afternoon flight to Havana, from where he would travel to Venezuela. Snowden did not show up for the flight.

...

Lavrov lashed out angrily at suggestions that Russia was involved. "We consider the attempts we are now seeing to blame the Russian side for breaking US laws and being almost in on the plot totally baseless and unacceptable, and even an attempt to threaten us," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/25/edward-snowden-never-crossed-russia-border