Snowden won’t harm U.S. while in Russia, Putin spokesman says

MOSCOW — The Kremlin will not allow National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to harm the United States during his time in Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said in an interview Saturday with The Times.

“While he is here, no one will allow him to indulge in any activities aimed against the United States,” Dmitry Peskov said in the telephone interview. “At the same time, he is free to meet with whomever ... whenever he wants.”

On Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney reiterated at a news briefing in Washington that “the unauthorized release of classified information ... is harmful to the national security interests of the United States.”

“The crimes with which he’s charged are very serious, and it’s certainly our view that the right thing to do in this case is for him to return, or be returned, to the United States to face those charges and to have his day in court,” Carney said.

Earlier on Friday, German leftist lawmaker Hans-Christian Stroebele had made public an open letter he said Snowden handed to him during a meeting in Moscow last week.

In the letter, Snowden, a former NSA contractor, said he would like to testify before Congress about the NSA and seemed willing to cooperate with German officials to investigate alleged U.S. snooping in Germany, Stroebele told a news conference in Berlin.

Russia cannot be held responsible for any new leaks associated with Snowden because he left all of his archive in Hong Kong before coming to Russia, Peskov said.