Obama to speak with Putin on Friday White House

3^min

President Barack Obama will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Friday, the White House said, hours after former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden said he would seek temporary asylum in Russia.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the phone call had been scheduled for several days.

He said the Obama administration had been communicating with nations around the world that the United States would like Snowden, who has divulged classified information about secret surveillance programs, to be returned to face charges in the United States.

Snowden has been in limbo at a Moscow airport since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.

This as former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said he would submit a request for asylum to Russia, where he intends to stay until he can travel to Latin America, a statement on Wikileaks said.

"I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably," Snowden told human rights activists whom he had invited to a Moscow airport for a closed door meeting.

According to a transcript of his remarks, Snowden asked the activists for assistance in securing his asylum in Russia until he is able to travel, the anti-secrecy organization said on its web site.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said that Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden must not harm US interests or Russian-American relations if he wants asylum in Russia, repeating conditions Putin set out earlier.

The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he was unaware of a formal request for asylum from Snowden.

In this context, Wikileaks said on Twitter on Friday that Snowden is seeking temporary asylum in Russia and plans to go to Latin America eventually.

Wikileaks Press posted the tweet as Snowden met human rights activists at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and cited a representative of Human Rights watch who attended the meeting.

Separately, a Russian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Snowden would apply for asylum in Russia.

In turn, Snowden said US officials have been waging a campaign to prevent him from taking up offers of asylum, he said in a letter sent to a Human Rights Watch official and posted on Facebook.

In the letter, he said he had invited human rights groups to meet on Friday at Sheremetyevo Aiport, where he has been in limbo since he flew to Moscow on June 23, to discuss "next steps forward in my situation".

In a separate email to Reuters, Snowden confirmed that the meeting with human rights groups would go ahead but said it would be closed to the press. He said he planned to speak to the media later.

REUTERS

Obama to speak with Putin on Friday -White House