History shows Snowden may face tough exile in Russia [View all]

[ProSense]

History shows Snowden may face tough exile in Russia

By Alissa de Carbonnel

(Reuters) - U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden seems assured of a warm welcome in Russia and may even achieve celebrity status in his new home, but history suggests he will no longer be master of his fate and a Moscow exile will bring some difficult challenges.

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"Precedents show us that life is hard for defectors from their countries," Lev Korolkov, a former officer in the Soviet KGB security service, told Reuters.

"They experience a huge internal stress that can last for a very long time, sometimes for the rest of their lives - even for those who stayed, such as Kim Philby," he said, referring to one of the British 'Cambridge ring' who spied for the Soviet Union during and after World War Two.

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Snowden is not the first employee of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to defect to Moscow...cryptologists William Martin and Bernon Mitchell defected to the Soviet Union during the Cold War in 1960 because of disenchantment with U.S. intelligence gathering methods...Martin later called his choice foolhardy as he became disillusioned with the less than ideal life in the Soviet Union and the relevance of their revelations quickly faded.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/02/us-usa-security-snowden-russia-idUSBRE97114O20130802