The White House said Friday that Russia granting political asylum to Edward Snowden would be on par with providing the National Security Agency leaker with a “propaganda platform” to further harm the United States.
During an address in Washington, DC Friday afternoon shortly
after Mr. Snowden issued a statement of his own from Moscow,
White House spokesperson Jay Carney said the administration’s
position on the leaker remains that he be extradited to the US to
face charges of espionage.
“Our position on Mr. Snowden and the felony charges against him
and our belief that he ought to be returned to the United States
to face those felony charges is as it was,” Carney told reporters
during a White House briefing.
Earlier in the day, Snowden announced that he was officially
seeking asylum from Russia. He has been awarded asylum from a
number of Latin American countries, but flight restrictions have
left him unable to exist the transit lounge within an airport in
Moscow.
“I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe
passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel 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,”
Snowden wrote in a statement released early Friday by
anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. “I will be submitting my request
to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.”
During the address hours later across the pond, Carney said the
White House has communicated to Russia and a number of other
countries that Snowden be sent back to the US immediately.
“I would simply say that providing a propaganda platform for Mr.
Snowden runs counter to the Russian government’s previous
declarations of Russia’s neutrality, and that they have no
control over their presence in the airport,” Carney said.
“It’s also incompatible with Russia’s assurances that they don’t
want Mr. Snowden to further damage United States interests. But
having said that, our position also remains that we don’t believe
this should–and we don’t want it to–do harm to our important
relationship with Russia.”
Carney added that US President Barack Obama has previously
scheduled a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir
Putin for later in the day.
Republished with permission from: RT