Edward Snowden may apply for temporary Russian asylum

The on-the-run US fugitive Edward Snowden finally made a public appearance at the Moscow Airport while attending a meeting with members of activist group Human Rights Watch, who later transmitted an audio message from him to a huge crowd of journalists. 

The message says that he may be applying for a 'temporary asylum' in Russia till time is conducive for his travel to some Latin American country.

“I did not seek to sell U.S. secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. (…) I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my passage to Latin America as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law, and my legal travel is permitted.”

In the meantime, the Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Snowden must agree to stop leaking US intelligence secrets to be considered for asylum.

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Many countries offer asylum to Snowden

Snowden who is believed to be holed up in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport and has been trying to find a country that would give him sanctuary after he landed there from Hong Kong on June 23, has a finally a ray of hope as many countries have offered him asylum.

It was Bolivia which frst offered asylum on Saturday to former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden - and now has been followed by Venezuela and Nicaragua in defiance of Washington.

However, there has been no response by Snowden so far to these asylum offers. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who offered refuge to Snowden late on Friday, but the government said that by Saturday night it had not received any word back.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country had received an asylum request and could agree to it "if circumstances permit".

All three nations are members of the leftist Alba bloc of countries that was forged by Venezuela's late Hugo Chávez and whose leaders often denounce US "imperial" aggression.

In the meanwhile, Russia has kept Snowden at arm's length, saying the airport's transit area where passengers wait between flights is neutral territory and that he would only be on Russian soil if he went through passport control.

Read more about it at: Mail and Guardian
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Russia 'not thinking about' asylum for Assad

Russia has made no agreement to grant Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asylum and is "not even thinking about" doing so, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

The remarks fell short of a statement that Russia would not consider taking in Assad but were among Moscow's strongest indications yet that it is not planning to do so.

"We have said more than once publicly that we are not even thinking about this," Lavrov said when asked about media reports Russia was ready to offer Assad asylum.


Read more: IBN Live

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Syrian fighter pilot along with MiG-21 defects to Jordan

A Syrian air Force pilot, Col Hassan Mirei al-Hamadeh, along with his MiG-21 Soviet built aircraft defected to Jordan and landed at the King Hussein Air Base in Mafraq, close to the Syrian border, Thursday 21 June.

The pilot has asked for asylum on humanitarian grunds, as the colonel would be tortured or killed if he returned home.

A Jordanian security source said the pilot had flown from al-Dumair military airport, north-east of Damascus.

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