White House says Snowden should return to U.S. for trial

   
The White House said on Tuesday that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who applied for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, should be expelled and returned to the United States to face trial on espionage charges.        

"He is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident. He is accused of leaking classified information," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Snowden.            

Snowden applied for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday after spending three weeks in limbo at a Moscow airport           

Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin will not be the person deciding whether to grant fugitive Snowden temporary asylum in Russia.                

"If we are talking about temporary asylum, then this is an issue not for the president but for the Federal Migration Service," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said after Snowden's application for temporary asylum after spending three weeks at a Moscow airport.              

This comes as Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the United States on espionage charges, has requested temporary asylum in Russia, a Russian lawyer told Reuters.                              

Snowden, who revealed details of U.S. government surveillance programs, has been stranded at a Moscow airport since June 23. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena confirmed Snowden had filed an application for temporary asylum, although the American has said he wants eventually to travel to Latin America.         


REUTERS