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Edward Snowden's latest attempt to stay out of US hands threatens to push Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin toward a standoff that both leaders say they want to avoid. The US is pressing Russia to expel the fugitive former security contractor, whose bid on Thursday to stay in Russia, while seeking safe passage to Latin America has cast a shadow on preparations by Obama and Putin for a summit in early September.
Both leaders, who discussed the impasse during a previously scheduled call on Thursday, have signaled that they don't want to let Snowden's case sour relations. The situation recalls Cold War-era flare-ups over spies and expulsions of diplomats that rarely had long-term consequences.
"My sense for this is that both sides, the Americans and the Russians, have tried not to let this thing blow up into something major that starts to divert the whole future of the relations," James F Collins, who was US ambassador to Russia during the Clinton administration, said in an interview. (SNOWDEN'S ASYLUM OPTIONS)
Snowden's presence in Moscow has been the latest irritant in US-Russia relations already frayed by the Obama administration's criticism of Moscow's human-rights record, the case of an alleged US spy caught in Moscow in May, and their sharply divergent views of the civil war in Syria. Snowden, 30, has been in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport since June 23, after he fled Hong Kong. He is now seeking to stay in Russia while routes to Latin America are blocked, according to activists who met him yesterday at the airport. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have indicated they are amenable to giving him asylum.
US criticism
US officials ratcheted up their criticism of Russia for allowing Snowden's airport meeting on Thursday with human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
"Providing a propaganda platform for Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the US was "disappointed" that Russia facilitated the meeting.
Carney said that the US and Russia have more pressing issues in front of them. "We don't believe this should, and we don't want it to, do harm to our important relationship with Russia," he said.
The two presidents have sought to avoid raising the stakes over Snowden.
A White House statement on Thursday's call between Obama and Putin said they "discussed a range of security and bilateral issues, including the status of Edward Snowden."
