Edward Snowden (REUTERS)
Spy snitch Edward Snowden is cooling his jets in a transit zone of the Moscow airport, and the Kremlin will not extradite the wanted American, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today.
The Russian leader made the announcement during a trip to Naantali, Finland, poking his finger in the diplomatic eye of Secretary of State John Kerry who had earlier today asked for Moscow’s help in rounding up Snowden.
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Putin also denied speculation that his government is in contact with the American, saying Russian agencies “didn’t work and aren’t working” with Snowden.
Putin used a folksy Russian metaphor to say his country has little to gain by solving Washington’s problem with Snowden.
“In any case, I’d rather not deal with such questions, because anyway it’s like shearing a pig – lots of screams but little wool,” according to a literal translation of Putin’s leave-Russia-out-of-this statement.
Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Kerry acknowledged that America has no extradition treaty with Russia, but said he hoped Putin’s government would help out Washington.
“I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is ‘a fugitive from justice,’ ” Kerry told reporters in Saudi Arabia.
The former National Security Agency contractor Snowden had been hiding in Hong Kong since spilling his guts about America’s phone-spying practices.
The admitted leaker suddenly bolted from Hong Kong on Sunday for Russia. He had been booked to fly Moscow to Cuba on Monday but he didn’t make the flight and hasn’t been seen since.
Snowden plans to eventually travel to Ecuador and seek asylum there, with the help of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Snowden never had a “well-thought-out plan” to evade American justice and grew increasingly paranoid during his final Hong Kong days, his lawyer said.
The Washington Post reported that Snowden blew out of the former British colony after he was approached Friday by a shadowy emissary, who told him Hong Kong and/or Chinese authorities wanted him to leave.
Within the next 24 hours, Snowden’s Hong Kong lawyer Albert Ho tapped his own governmental connections, seeking to confirm Friday’s tip. All he got was a noncommittal response.
“There’s nothing the government can say,” was how Ho described his back-channel efforts.
That no-comment feedback from Ho’s sources was apparently enough to convince Snowden he should leave Hong Kong.
Snowden didn’t anticipate the problems he might face, holing up in the semi-autonomous territory that’s under the ultimate control of China.
“I don’t think he ever had a well-thought-out plan,” Ho said.
While in Hong Kong, Snowden carefully covered his tracks — going to great lengths to not even leave a scent of where he had been hiding.
When Snowden first met Ho, he told everyone in the meeting to stash their cell phones in the refrigerator, according to the Washington Post report.
Presumably, ice box walls and cold temperatures would freeze out any eavesdropping technology.
The American leaker made sure to limit his exposure to the outside, where he might be spotted.
“He didn’t go out,” Ho said of Snowden. “He spent all his time inside, in a tiny place.”
Snowden did try to enjoy one, small slice of normalcy while in Hong Kong. He celebrated his 30th birthday last week with his lawyers and secret pals.
They dined on pizza, fried chicken and Pepsi – Snowden’s preferred choice in the cola cold war.