Snowden living under guard and touring Russia, says lawyer
Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is at a secret location in Russia
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is living under guard at a secret location in Russia but is able to travel incognito and is expecting family visits, his Russian lawyer said in excerpts from a televised interview published Monday by Russian news agencies.
“No one is being told his place of residence. This is done on his request because we understand that the level of danger is quite high,” Anatoly Kucherena told RT television in an interview, the Interfax news agency reported ahead of the broadcast.
“I think it is still impossible to say or ‘unscramble’ his place of residence,” Kucherena added.
Presenter Sophie Shevardnadze wrote on Twitter that the full interview would probably air September 23 on RT, an English-language channel funded by the Russian government.
Snowden has remained hidden from view since Russia granted him temporary asylum on August 1 and he left the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he had apparently been trapped since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.
Kucherena said that Snowden had security guards, although he was evasive about whether they come from Russia’s security forces.
“They do not necessarily have to be Russian security forces. We have quite a few private firms,” he said.