MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russian human rights organizations and lawyers said Friday they have been invited to a meeting with fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, scheduled for Friday afternoon.
It was not immediately clear whether the invitation was genuinely from Snowden, though the email address used did include his name.
“I received an invitation yesterday for 4:30 p.m. at Sheremetyevo,” said prominent Moscow lawyer Henri Reznik, “He sent invitations not only to me, but to other human rights activists.”
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, prominent laywer Henrikh Padva and head of Russian rights organization “Resistance” Olga Kostina all confirmed Friday that they had been invited to the meeting.
Snowden, who is wanted by Washington on charges of espionage and property theft after he leaked details of secret state surveillance programs, has been holed up in Sheremetyevo since arriving on a June 23 flight from Hong Kong. Despite the efforts of dozens of reporters to find him, Snowden has not been seen in public, nor made any official statements, since his arrival in Moscow.
Sheremetyevo airport, which is owned by the Russian state, said Friday that it would facilitate the meeting. “The meeting will be at 5:00 p.m.," said an airport spokesperson. "We will provide access and a location for the meeting."
During the gathering Snowden will give details about his future plans, according to Russian media reports.
Both President Vladimir Putin and Snowden himself have denied that he has been working with Russian intelligence services, or providing Russia with classified information since he arrived in Russia.
Snowden, who has had his passport revoked by the United States, has submitted over 20 asylum applications to countries across the world. Latin American states including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have said that they would be prepared to offer him refuge.
Updated with clarified headline and lead, indicating that it has not yet been confirmed that the invitation came from Snowden himself.
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