Russia Slams U.S. Pressure Over Snowden

Moscow Times ^ | 07/26/2013 | Ivan Nechepurenko

[TexGrill]

Russian officials and human rights activists on Thursday slammed the U.S. for “threatening Russia” in a bid to have former NSA contractor Edward Snowden returned, as suspense mounts over the fugitive’s impending departure from Sheremetyevo Airport.

“They [the U.S.] are asking Russia to discriminate against a U.S. citizen who has turned to Russia for temporary asylum and thus blatantly violate human rights,” Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who is currently advising Snowden on immigration and other issues, told Interfax.

In an unusual demonstration of solidarity with the government-connected lawyer, Svetlana Gannushkina, a prominent independent human rights activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, said: “I do not like the way they [the U.S.] are behaving. They are pressuring [us] too much and literally threatening Russia,” she said.

The statements come a day after reports that Snowden would soon be leaving the airport sent international media into a frenzy and prompted the U.S. to demand clarification from Moscow on Snowden’s asylum status, which, it soon became clear, was still pending.

The U.S. government has repeatedly tried to convince Russia to send Snowden back to the U.S. to face charges, but the situation remains at an impasse, and Russia has cited the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty with the U.S. as the reason for its inaction on the matter.

Moscow and Washington agreed in 2007 to draft an agreement for the extradition of criminal suspects, but there was no further progress on the document despite Russia’s calls to complete the process.

Russia’s Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said in February 2012, when the issue was raised again, that “the U.S. side remains reluctant to accept our proposals.”

[TexGrill]

Global business tip

[pepsionice]

This is my prediction.

Snowden ends up winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Snowden starts doing live interviews with CNN’s Piers. Snowden becomes a key member of Wiki-Leaks. Somewhere in the midst of 2014, Snowden up and disappears....never to be seen again. Moscow won’t say much, and the US will just look the other way.

[cunning_fish]

In fact Kucherena is not a government-connected lawyer.
He is one of the Moscow’s top defence attorneys worth millions of dollars.
Snowden might be rich if he can afford to hire him.

[niteowl77]

The U.S. government has repeatedly tried to convince Russia to send Snowden back to the U.S. to face charges, but the situation remains at an impasse, and Russia has cited the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty with the U.S. as the reason for its inaction on the matter.

It's too bad the Russian government hasn't repeatedly tried to convince the U.S. to send someone back to Russia to face charges, because if they...

Oh, that's right... THAT guy. Well, then...

Never mind.

Mr. niteowl77

[Sooth2222]

This has to be as drawn out and complicated as a Dostoyevsky novel. It just does.

I'm not sure that the Nobel committee has the stones to award the Prize to Assange, Snowden and Manning (after they awarded it to Zero for doing absolutely nothing).

Snowden has the potential to be a long-term irritant to the US, and I don't think the Russkies would be willing to give that up.

My own guess is that Snowden stays in Russia, writes some books, marries a blonde, has a couple of kids and dies at an early age, maybe in a traffic accident.