Snowden Applies to Stay in Russia as Asylum Expires, Lawyer Says
By Anatoly Medetsky Jul 31, 2014 8:47 AM ET
Edward Snowden, the fugitive ex-U.S. security contractor, has applied to extend his one-year asylum in Russia before his permission to stay in the country expires today, according to his lawyer.
Snowden may stay in Russia as long as the Federal Migration Service is considering his application, his Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said on the Rossiya 24 television channel. A decision may be made today or tomorrow, RIA Novosti reported him as saying.
Locked in a standoff over Ukraine, ties between Russia and the U.S. are at their tensest since the end of the Cold War. The two powers have also clashed on issues ranging from the civil war in Syria to the temporary asylum Russia granted Snowden when he fled from Hong Kong after disclosing top-secret U.S.National Security Agency programs that collect phone and Internet data.
Snowden has a job and is studying Russian, which are some of the conditions to get an extension, Kucherena said.
Snowden’s extension is expected to be approved because he is “still in danger,” head of advisory council of migration service Vladimir Volokh said July 11, according to Interfax. The Izvestia newspaper reported July 1 that he applied to extend stay by one year.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-31/snowden-applies-to-stay-in-russia-as-asylum-expires-lawyer-says.html
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