Why Snowden Picked Moscow as His Transit Point
It seems Moscow is a safe enough place for whistle-blowers to seek some respite, however temporary
By Andrei Soldatov
Moscow June 23, 2013
... Russia was likely a reliable bet. It has no extradition treaty with Washington, and Snowden would not be the first Western whistle-blower to get a bit of help in Russia ... Russian authorities insisted that they were not informed beforehand of Snowdens intention to fly to Moscow, and that technically he never entered Russian territory. He has not cleared passport control at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow ... Sergei Bout, the brother of convicted international arms trafficker Victor Bout, called on Sunday for Snowden to be arrested and swapped for his brother, who is serving a lengthy sentence in a U.S. prison. But as eager as Russian authorities have been to bring Victor Bout home, they did not give any official support to Sergei Bouts madcap suggestion. Instead, they made clear Snowden had no reason to fear arrest in Russia. Snowden does not have any international warrants for his arrest, a source in the Russian security services told Itar-Tass news agency. He has not passed customs, so he has not formally crossed the border. That last point could have been a hint at the limits of Russian hospitality ...
http://world.time.com/2013/06/23/russian-hospitality-why-snowden-picked-moscow-as-his-transit-point/
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Obama has made a mess of this. He should go on TV and tell Ed "Come home, son. America loves what you have done. Come home and I will put you in charge of fixing this whole damn mess. We need you."
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)DevonRex
(22,541 posts)And some cash to pick up. You know, just a little errand on the way from China to Venezuela. BTW do we have any actual pictures of Eddie in Russia or leaving China or arriving anywhere else?
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)and reporters were unable to find any passengers that recognized his photo. I haven't checked for recent news
It may all be somebody's mirror puzzle: He's headed to Iceland! Wait, he's is Moscow, but the Russian authorities don't know anything about it! He's headed to Venezuela via Cuba! No, wait! he's actually going to Ecuador!