It sounds as if mega-leaker/whistleblower (use the term that fits your political preference) is wearing out his welcome in Russia. Reuters:
Edward Snowden should find another country to seek refuge in, a Russian official said on Thursday, signaling Moscow’s growing impatience over the former U.S. spy agency contractor’s stay at a Moscow airport.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia had received no request for political asylum from Snowden and he had to solve his problems himself after 11 days in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
President Vladimir Putin has refused to extradite the American and Russian officials have delighted in his success in staying out of the United States’ clutches since revealing details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs.
But Moscow also has made clear that Snowden is an increasingly unwelcome guest because the longer he stays, the greater the risk of the diplomatic standoff causing lasting damage to relations with Washington.
“He needs to choose a place to go,” Ryabkov told Reuters. “As of this moment, we do not have a formal application from Mr Snowden asking for asylum in the Russian Federation.”
Ryabkov told Itar-Tass news agency separately that Russia “cannot solve anything for him” and the situation should now be resolved “one way or the other”.
His remarks echoed comments by Putin, who has urged Snowden, 30, to leave as soon as he can.
Of course, Snowden’s problem is nobody wants to take him. I imagine this is not the scenario he had in his head when he decided to go public. It seems he didn’t calculate the geopolitical complications in seeking asylum. Kind of surprising. You might think a guy smart enough to hack closely guarded NSA data would have anticipated this in advance
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.