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Snowden
has not yet accepted Venezuela asylum
The
WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said that fugitive US intelligence
leaker Edward Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in
Venezuela as was claimed by a top Russian lawmaker in a Twitter
posting that was later deleted.
10
July, 2013, 02.17 GMT
Pro-Kremlin
lawmaker Alexei Pushkov sparked confusion when he tweeted Tuesday
that Snowden had agreed to an offer from Caracas. He deleted the
posting after about 30 minutes.
"Edward
Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela. The
Russian lawmaker concerned has deleted the tweet," WikiLeaks
said on its Twitter account.
Pushkov
does not officially speak for the Russian government but has close
Kremlin connections and is believed to relay views similar to those
of President Vladimir Putin.
The
lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee chief said that
"apparently this (Venezuelan) option looked like the most
reliable one to Snowden."
Putin's
spokesman declined to comment, saying all questions should be
directed to Pushkov.
After
removing his original post, Pushkov said in a separate message that
he had learnt of the most recent development around Snowden from a
news report on Russian state television channel Vesti 24.
He
later rephrased his original message, saying Snowden had agreed to
asylum in Venezuela, according to a Vesti 24 report.
"Venezuela
finally received an answer from the CIA former agent," a news
report on the channel's website said earlier Tuesday.
"The
President of the Latin American country, Nicolas Maduro, received an
official political asylum request from Edward Snowden," said the
channel.
On
Monday, Maduro called on Snowden to decide if he wanted to fly to
Caracas.
"We
have received the asylum request letter," Maduro told reporters
in Caracas after he offered the 30-year-old former National Security
Agency contractor asylum along with the leaders of Bolivia and
Nicaragua.
"He
will have to decide when he flies, if he finally wants to fly here,"
Maduro said. He called the offers from the three Latin American
nations "collective humanitarian political asylum."
It
remains unclear how the world's most famous refugee would be able to
leave the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport, where he has been
marooned without valid documents since he arrived from Hong Kong on
June 23.
There
are no direct flights between Moscow and Caracas. The quickest way to
get to Venezuela would be to fly via Havana.
A
spokeswoman for Russian national carrier Aeroflot, Irina Danenberg,
said she was not aware if Snowden had been on the flight to Havana
that left Moscow earlier Tuesday. "I have no clue," she
said.
There
are no direct flights to Havana from Moscow on Wednesday.
Venezuela's
foreign ministry has also made clear that it has not made any contact
with Snowden since Maduro's invitation.
That
makes it uncertain just how much currency a verbal commitment from
Maduro has with Russian authorities who are seeking clear documented
evidence of Snowden having a legal future destination point.
Snowden
never boarded his plane out of Moscow for Cuba on June 24 for
unexplained reasons.
Analysts
said it was likely that he was simply not allowed to board by the
Russians because he had no valid transit papers after his US travel
passport had been revoked.
Neither
do countries such as Venezuela have consular sections in Sheremetyevo
that could issue Snowden with the required papers.
Pushkov
has been a vocal commentator of the Snowden affair, saying earlier
that Venezuela was "possibly his last chance to receive
political asylum."
Meanwhile
Brazil on Tuesday turned down an asylum request from Snowden.
"We
will not grant asylum," to the US fugitive, Foreign Minister
Antonio Patriota said after talks with his Uruguayan counterpart Luis
Almagro in Brasilia.
In
apparent limbo in Moscow, Snowden has applied for asylum in 27
countries as he tries to evade American justice for disclosing a vast
program of US worldwide electronic surveillance.
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