MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia said on Tuesday that Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee wanted by the US for leaking state secrets, had not crossed the Russian border.
Snowden, who leaked details of a US surveillance program to newspapers in the US and UK earlier this month, was widely reported to have flown from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday, from where he was expected to fly to Ecuador, where he has reportedly requested asylum.
“I want to say right away that we have nothing to do with Snowden, or with his attitude to the American legal system, or with his movements around the world. He chose his own route, and we found out about it – like most people here – from the media,” Lavrov said at a press conference.
“He did not cross the Russian border,” the foreign minister said.
Numerous unconfirmed media reports had speculated that Snowden had flown to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday but gone no further than the transit area, as he did not have a Russian visa. Staying in the transit zone of an airport would not constitute crossing the country’s border.
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