Russian President Vladimir Putin: Snowden "Is a Free Man", US Accusations of Russia Are "Drivel and Nonsense"

From Bloomberg News (6/25/2013):

Putin Defends Snowden’s Stopover, Rejects U.S. ‘Drivel’

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to extradite fugitive Edward Snowden as the Obama administration maintained that officials in Moscow have a legal basis to return him to the U.S.

Russia was “completely surprised” by the arrival of Snowden, who remained in a Moscow airport transit zone after traveling from Hong Kong on June 23, Putin told reporters in Finland yesterday. Snowden, who faces U.S. espionage charges, can’t be handed over because the two nations don’t have an extradition treaty, Putin said.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia increased after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on June 24 that it would be “deeply troubling” if Russia had received advance notice of Snowden’s arrival. Yesterday, Putin said that Russian security agencies “didn’t work and aren’t working” with Snowden and any accusations of wrongdoing by his country are “drivel and nonsense.”

Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador, and he also may be exploring other possible places of refuge, according to Julian Assange, founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Snowden, a former worker for government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (BAH), disclosed top-secret U.S. National Security Agency programs that collect phone and Internet data.

Snowden “is a free man, and the sooner he selects his final destination, the better it will be both for us and for him,” Putin said. “As a transit passenger, he has the right to buy a ticket and fly wherever he wants.”

(Full article at the link)

Let's see. John Kerry, a swift boat captain, vs Vladimir Putin, KGB spymaster. Who will win?

The comment section of the article is more entertaining than the article, which is increasingly the case with any media websites these days. People continue to write stuff, even though they now know NSA is snooping.

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