Russia has not yet received a request to extradite Snowden to the United States.
The Russian Justice Ministry said on July 25 that Moscow had not received an official request from Washington for the extradition of former US intelligence employee Edward Snowden, who is being intensely pursued by US authorities and is currently in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.
In a statement issued the same day, the Russian Ministry of Justice stated that Moscow had received a letter from US Attorney General Eric Holder explaining the US position on Snowden's status, but the letter did not mention any request for extradition or deportation of the former intelligence employee on July 24, the date rumored to be when Snowden left the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport.
Snowden met with human rights activists at Sheremetyevo Airport, where he is currently in hiding. (Source: AFP)
The US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, also affirmed that the US is not requesting the extradition of Snowden from Russia, but rather wants the whistleblower who revealed a wealth of sensitive intelligence information to return to the United States voluntarily.
These statements were made in the context of the Russian newspaper Kommersant reporting earlier that the US had sent official documents to Moscow requesting Snowden's extradition for trial. Meanwhile, the US Congress is actively drafting legislation that would impose sanctions on countries that grant Snowden political asylum.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously on July 25 to seek trade sanctions or other penalties against any country that grants Snowden asylum. The 30-member committee approved an amendment to the spending bill that would require Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with congressional committees to devise sanctions against any country that harbors Snowden. Previously, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela had indicated they might grant Snowden asylum.
In a related development, former intelligence employee Snowden's revelations triggered a domino effect, with several other former National Security Agency (NSA) employees deciding to disclose US electronic surveillance activities, including the monitoring of European citizens.
In an interview with Stern magazine, U. Binney, a former codebreaker with over 30 years of experience working for the NSA, stated that German intelligence began cooperating with the Americans in the 1990s and had received electronic surveillance software from the US.
According to Binney, the archive being built in Utah could hold approximately 40 trillion to 50 trillion files, storing everything from recordings of phone conversations and emails to even credit card accounts from around the world.
Also in the interview with Star magazine, another former NSA official, Thomas Drake, stated that the secret surveillance program called PRISM, revealed by Snowden, was only "the tip of the iceberg." In fact, this program was just one of 50 spyware programs that provided information to the database codenamed "Star Wind."
According to former employees of the top-secret organization, this electronic surveillance program could cover the entire world, and no one could escape this network.
According to (VNA) - DT
