Latest News:  

English>>World

U.S. has no right to demand Snowden's arrest in Russia: official

(Xinhua)

20:16, June 24, 2013

MOSCOW, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States has no right to demand Russia arrest and extradite fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, a Russian official said Monday.

"The Americans can't demand anything. We can extradite him, or we can refuse to do that," Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin told the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor has not committed any crime in Russia, nor have Russian authorities received any instructions from the International Criminal Police Organization on arrest, he added.

"Thus we have no grounds for his detention," Lukin said.

Snowden, who disclosed information on top-secret surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on Sunday.

He was expected to depart on Flight SU150 to Cuba at 14:05 p.m. (1005 GMT) Monday from Terminal D of Sheremetyevo international airport.

However, an Associated Press journalist said on Twitter that he was standing next to Snowden's seat on flight SU150, but the admitted leaker was not there.

Moreover, a journalist from The Guardian also said that check-in for Flight SU150 had ended and that an Aeroflot employee verified that Snowden, also a former CIA technician, was not on board.

Interfax, citing a Russian security source, also reported that Snowden was not on board Monday's Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Havana.

Xinhua reporters saw cars from the Ecuadorian embassy in Moscow parked at Sheremetyevo. Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino Aroca said late Sunday on his Twitter account that his government had received an asylum request from Snowden.


We recommend:

Protesters stage anti-gov't rally in Bangkok

World Naked Bike Ride kicks off in Vancouver

Security tightened in Pakistan after bomb attack

'50th Exhibition of classic vintage cars kicks off

Beatles' wax figures exhibited in Washington

Pole Dance National Day marked in Mexico

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:YanMeng、Chen Lidan)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Ground-to-air missile brigade conducts drill

  2. Officers and men in anti-chemical drill

  3. Old photos of Vietnam War

  4. Technology cracks down on fake products

  5. 6 golden pythons get new home in Guangzhou

  6. Childhood in an isolated sterile room

  7. Best sports photos: Loli of Spain

  8. Bodyguards train on protecting VIPs

  9. Luxury China 2013 kicks off in Beijing

  10. High-end singles party attracts swarm of girls

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. Situation on Korean Peninsula delicately balanced
  2. Foreign companies eye new 'opening-up'
  3. Third parties aid Chinese customers' needs
  4. Profiting out of Africa comes with risks
  5. China's outbound investment at turning point
  6. Dog meat festival, 'bloody carnival'?
  7. Obama's deeds more important than his words
  8. Social media lures us to throw away privacy barriers
  9. What has the Prism program taught us?
  10. China to sustain prudent monetary policy

What’s happening in China

Childhood in an isolated sterile room

  1. Firemen extinguish chemical plant fire in Shanghai
  2. Drug use a rising issue among the young in China
  3. Official paid mistress 10,000 yuan a day
  4. Smugglers becoming more clever in hiding drugs
  5. Man gets death for killing 7 in 9 days