Russian President Putin Claims Snowden Will Not Be Extradited

While Snowden’s whereabouts remains apparently “cloudy” or unknown, Vladimir Putin – President of Russia – has stated that Edward Snowden did arrive in Moscow a few days ago and it was apparently a surprise visit according to Russia Today. Putin said in an interview in Finland that because Edward Snowden arrived as a transit passenger he did not need a visa or any other travel documents and he is free to travel to wherever he wants.

Vladimir Putin reiterated the sentiments of Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stating that any accusations against Russia are nonsense and rubbish as Edward Snowden has not crossed the Russia border. Furthermore he claims that there is no Russian-U.S extradition agreement so Edward Snowden cannot be extradited. He also claimed Russia Secret Services have not been in contact with Snowden about any of the leaked NSA documents which may contain intelligence about Russia.

Putin described the process of extraditing Edward Snowden as “like shearing a pig: there’s lots of squealing and little fleece”. While the USA stresses a legal basis for extradition exists Russia are playing the neutral “i’m not getting involved” card which seems to be really hacking the USA off.

Image courtesy of EuroNews.com