Snowden during a press conference at Moscow's international airport on July 12. DPA/ Human Rights Watch
Edward Snowden Still Stuck In Airport. Would Life In Russia Be Better? -- Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor
Edward Snowden is expected to get papers Thursday to let him leave the Moscow airport. He might consider staying in Russia. That didn't work out so well for Soviet-era American defectors.
Fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden won’t be getting a taste of Russian life quite as quickly as he’d expected.
After initial reports Wednesday that Mr. Snowden had received Russian government documents allowing him to leave Moscow’s airport – where he has been holed up for the past month – came the news that unexplained bureaucratic entanglements would keep the US citizen in the airport’s transit zone for at least another day.
The former spy agency contractor – wanted by the US for violating the Espionage Act by divulging the details of secret telephone and e-mail surveillance programs – is seeking temporary asylum status in Russia. Russian lawyers aiding Snowden had expected the government to issue Wednesday papers allowing Snowden to establish residence in Moscow while Russian authorities consider his asylum request. Officials say the asylum decision could take up to three months.
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My Comment: We now know that Russia will not deport him, and with travel to countries like Venezuela/Ecuador/Bolivia risky and dangerous for him .... Russia is probably Edward Snowden's best bet. I expect him to be leaving the airport in the next day or two .... and I do expect him to get a job very soon .... probably software. I also expect him to get paid well because of who he is. He will have to learn the language .... and while Russian is not an easy language to learn (fortunately for me, Russian is my first language) .... being forced to learn it will probably make him proficient in a year or two. Moscow is a very active city, and while winters are brutal and summers are hot .... the people are generous and open. He will enjoy a good life .... but should he ever travel abroad .... be prepared to always be looking behind your back.
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