Russia is poised to permit Snowden to leave airport

[morningfog]

MOSCOW — After a month camped out in a transit area of Moscow’s international airport, fugitive Edward Snowden on Wednesday received clean clothing and a copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” — but no final word that he would be allowed into the country after having leaked U.S. surveillance secrets, his lawyer said.

A Russian immigration official indicated Wednesday that his government would soon give the former National Security Agency contractor a document enabling him to leave Sheremetyevo Airport and stay in Russia temporarily, under tight official constraints.

Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela have offered to give Snowden refuge, but pressure from Washington and concerns that the United States or Europe might block him from traveling through their airspace have prevented the fugitive from leaving Russia. Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said Wednesday that his client, who has been charged in the United States with leaking classified information, has started to learn Russian and is preparing for an extended sojourn in the country.

Vladimir Volokh, head of the public council of the Russian Federal Migration Service, said Snowden would be handed a certificate stating that he had applied for political asylum.

Snowden would “only be allowed to stay in places designated by Russian law enforcement agencies,” Volokh told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/snowden-to-be-given-permission-to-leave-airport/2013/07/24/edc64f1a-f463-11e2-aa2e-4088616498b4_story.html

[brooklynite]

1. Snowden’s hopes of leaving Moscow airport dashed

MOSCOW – Fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden’s hopes of leaving Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for the first time in a month on Wednesday were dashed when he failed to secure permission from Russia to leave.

An airport source said Snowden, who is wanted by the United States on espionage charges for revealing details of government intelligence programs, was handed documents by his lawyer that were expected to include a pass to leave the transit area.

But Snowden did not go through passport control, and lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, who is helping him with his request for temporary asylum in Russia until he can reach a country that will shelter him, said the American did not have the pass he needed.

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/2013/07/24/snowden-could-soon-leave-moscow-airport

[morningfog]

3. I don't think it is clear whether there is a denial, delay or a separate document possibly coming.

It seems that no one knows for sure, with the US seeking clarification on his status.

[HipChick]

2. “only be allowed to stay in places designated by Russian law enforcement agencies,”

Sounds like prison to me...

At least in the US, he would know if they were talking about him or not...