Snowden applies for asylum in Russia - immigration source

     
Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia, a Russian immigration source close to the matter said on Monday.         

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a Wikileaks activist who is traveling with Snowden handed his application to a Russian consulate in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday.

This as President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would not hand former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden over to the United States but that if Snowden wants to stay in Russia he "must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners".        

Snowden "is not a Russian agent", Putin said, repeating that Russian intelligence services were not working with the fugitive American, who is believed to remain in the transit area at a Moscow airport eight days after arriving from Hong Kong.          

He said Snowden should choose his final destination and go there.     

In this regard, the Russian and U.S. presidents have told their security services to resolve the standoff over former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, Russia's RIA news agency quoted a Russian official as saying.        

RIA cited Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin's advisory Security Council, as saying it would not be easy for the FBI and Russia's FSB to agree over the fate of Snowden, who flew to Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23.        

Putin has ignored calls to extradite Snowden to face espionage charges in the United States. Another Russian official, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, said Putin had not discussed the situation with U.S. President Barack Obama.       


REUTERS