ASPEN, Colo. — The former U.S. ambassador to Russia says Edward Snowden’s continuing political asylum in Moscow has been an intelligence and public relations boon to President Vladimir Putin.
Michael McFaul, who left Moscow in February, told a large crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival here that Snowden “knows things that are useful to Russian intelligence” about the inner workings of U.S. eavesdropping and surveillance. While the former diplomat said that he had no particular information that Snowden, an ex-contractor for the National Security Agency, was sharing classified information with his Russian hosts, McFaul said the Russians were probably doing everything they could to glean secrets from Snowden. If a Russian intelligence operative with Snowden’s level of knowledge had showed up in the United States, he too would have been granted immediate asylum, McFaul said.
“This was just manna from heaven for the Russians,” McFaul said.
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“Earlier this month, award-winning investigative journalist John Solomon of The Hill reported that during a security conference in Aspen, Colorado, Schiff met with Simpson. Simpson has been a key witness in investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”