MOSCOW (AP) — Two prominent Russian human rights officials say they plan to meet on Friday with Edward Snowden, the leaker of U.S. National Security Agency secrets, after receiving an invitation calling them to Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport.
Snowden is believed to have been stuck in the airport's transit zone since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23, as he negotiates for asylum in another country.
Sergei Nikitin, head of Amnesty International's Russia office, told The Associated Press he will go to the meeting, but declined to give details. Tatiana Lokshina, deputy head of the Russian office of Human Rights Watch, was quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying she also would go.
On Facebook, Lokshina posted the text of an e-mail purportedly from Snowden that she received Thursday. The text says Snowden wants to make "a brief statement and discussion regarding the next steps forward in my situation."
It does not directly address the offers of asylum that Snowden has received from Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, though it expresses gratitude for asylum offers and says "I hope to travel to each of them." It accuses the United States of "an unlawful campaign ... to deny my right to seek and enjoy this asylum."
Russian news reports said the invitation was also sent to local officials of Transparency International, an organization that tracks corruption in governments and industries, and the U.N. refugee agency. Those organizations could not immediately be reached for comment.
