Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden submitted a request for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, his lawyer said, claiming he faces persecution from the U.S. government and could face torture or death, the Association Press reported.
WikiLeaks and the Federation Migation Service in Russia confirmed the application request.
Once the application is process by the Migration Service, the Russian government will be able to issue Snowden with temporary documentation to allow him to move freely around Russia, legal analysts in Moscow said. It can take up to five days for that preliminary review of the application to be completed.
If asylum is granted, Snowden will be permitted to live and work in Russia for up to one year, and then can be renewed.
Snowden argued in his application that he needs asylum since he " faces persecution by the U.S. government and he fears for his life and safety, fears that he could be subjected to torture and capital punishment," attorney Anatoly Kucherena told Rossiya 24 Television. Kucherena met with Snowden in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to give him legal advice recently. Snowden as been at the airport since June 23.
Snowden reportedly had offers of asylum from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, but because his U.S. passport has been revoked, the logistics grew too complicated, analysts said.
"Our position on this remains what it was," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Our interest has always been in seeing him expelled from Russia and returned to the United States."
Snowden has been charged with unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information and government property theft, the AP reported.
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