This June 23, 2013, file photo shows a TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping US surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong. Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, July 2, 2013, he was welcome to stay as long as he stopped leaking US intelligence reports. AP FILE PHOTO
MOSCOW鈥擴S leaker Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was welcome to stay as long as he stopped leaking US intelligence reports.
On Sunday night, Snowden applied for political asylum at the consulate office of the Sheremetyevo airport, where he had been staying for more than a week in legal limbo, a foreign ministry official told AFP.
鈥淎t 10:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) yesterday, British citizen Sarah Harrison turned up at the consulate department at Sheremetyevo airport and submitted a request from Snowden about granting him asylum,鈥� consulate officer Kim Shevchenko told AFP.
Sarah Harrison is an employee of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who accompanied Snowden on his June 23 trip from Hong Kong, where the former NSA contractor leaked details of the US surveillance program after leaving his job in Hawaii.
Putin appeared to respond to Snowden鈥檚 request Monday by saying at a news conference that Snowden, who is wanted in the United States on charges of espionage, must stop leaking information damaging Washington if he wants to stay in Russia.
鈥淩ussia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,鈥� Putin said when grilled by reporters about the fate of the leaker believed to be holed up in the airport鈥檚 transit zone since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23.
Putin鈥檚 one condition
鈥淚f he (Snowden) wants to remain here there is one condition鈥攈e should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me,鈥� Putin said.
But Putin, whose comments came before the announcement by the consular officer that Snowden had applied for asylum, himself appeared to indicate that was an unlikely scenario.
鈥淏ecause he feels like a rights activist and defender of human rights all indications are that he is not going to stop this work. So he has to choose a country of residence for himself and move there.鈥�
The Russian president reiterated Snowden was not a Moscow agent and was not working with Russian special services.
US President Barack Obama on Monday confirmed that there were high-level consultations between Moscow and Washington over Snowden鈥檚 fate.
鈥淲e have gone through regular, law enforcement channels in enforcing the extradition request that we have made with respect to Mr Snowden,鈥� he said while on his African visit.
鈥淢r. Snowden, we understand, has traveled there without a valid passport, without legal papers. We are hopeful that the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel.鈥�
Putin had previously refused to immediately hand over Snowden to Washington due to the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries.
Finding end to diplomatic deadlock
The head of Russia鈥檚 Security Council Nikolai Patrushev earlier Monday said that Putin and Obama had ordered the chiefs of their respective security agencies, the FSB and FBI, to find a way out of the diplomatic deadlock.
鈥淥f course, (Putin and Obama) don鈥檛 have a solution now that would work for both sides, so they have ordered the FSB director (Alexander) Bortnikov and FBI director Robert Mueller to keep in constant contact and find solutions,鈥� Patrushev told television channel Rossiya 24.
鈥淚 have to point out, however, that the task ahead of them is not easy, because they have to find a solution within the framework of international legal norms, and today one cannot say that such norms exist, and that there is a ready solution,鈥� Patrushev added.
Putin also hinted Monday Snowden might be swapped for another figure, saying that the only instance Moscow has given out people to other countries was 鈥渨hen we exchanged our intelligence officers for those people who were detained, arrested, and convicted in the Russian Federation.鈥�
Putin had last month reportedly sent a letter to Obama ahead of the G8 summit in Ireland, in which he listed a series of problems in ties with Washington.
The letter mentioned Russians Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted and jailed in the United States, reported Kommersant broadsheet.
The two convicted Russian citizens could both be bargaining chips in the current negotiations between Washington and Moscow over Snowden, said Dmitry Trenin, the head of Moscow Carnegie Center think tank.
鈥淚f I was handling the negotiations, I would propose an exchange for Bout and Yaroshenko,鈥� he told AFP. 鈥淎nother option is signing an agreement about mutual extradition, something the Americans don鈥檛 want.鈥�
Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23 for a layover on his way to Latin America, possibly Ecuador, in a bid to escape extradition to the United States.
However, Ecuador President Rafael Correa said on Sunday that 鈥渢he solution of Snowden鈥檚 destination鈥� was in the hands of Russian authorities.鈥�Maria Antonova