Snowden says he will seek asylum in Russia
MOSCOW — The fugitive
document-leaker Edward
Snowden surfaced, even if behind
closed doors, at Sheremetyevo
International Airport on Friday
afternoon, and in announcing to a
group of visitors that he plans to
seek asylum in Russia, he ensured
that a problem neither Moscow nor
Washington wants is not about to
go away.
Snowden had hoped to go to Latin
America, but as that prospect has
come to appear more difficult, he is
facing the more immediate
challenge of getting out of the
airport after nearly three weeks
there. He told his guests that he sees
Russian asylum as a short-term
solution, in hopes that he can later
make his way to Venezuela,
Nicaragua or Bolivia, which have
offered him asylum.
Russia has been ambivalent at best
about his presence here, as an
unwelcome complication in already
strained relations with the United
States. But by late evening, Russian
authorities seemed to be making the
best of a difficult situation, as a line
of officials sought out the media
and voiced their support for
asylum.
