Putin Says Snowden Was In Touch Before Coming To Russia

[uhnope]

Source: Wall Street Journal

MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that Edward Snowden contacted Russian diplomats in Hong Kong a few days before boarding a plane to Moscow but that no agreement was reached to shelter him and he decided to come to Russia on his own without warning.

Mr. Putin had initially said Mr. Snowden’s arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on June 23 was a “complete surprise,” but now acknowledges that he had some prior knowledge that the fugitive former U.S. National Security Agency contractor might be headed Russia’s way.

“Mr. Snowden first appeared in Hong Kong and met with our diplomatic representatives. It was reported to me that there was such an employee, an employee of the security services. I asked ‘What does he want?’ He fights for human rights, for freedom of information and challenges violations of human rights and violations of the law in the United States. I said, ‘So what?’,” Mr. Putin said in an interview with Russia’s Channel One and The Associated Press.

He said he had been willing to allow Mr. Snowden to come to Russia but only if he stopped leaking highly classified details of U.S. intelligence programs.

Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2013/09/04/putin-says-snowden-was-in-touch-before-coming-to-russia/?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

---

"I want freedom! I'm going to reach out to, um, Russia."

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. oh noes!

[7962]

4. Now THATS funny

[Isoldeblue]

2. The fact that he would trust

Putin and Russia, from all other places to go, says this guy is off his noggin.

[7962]

3. You mean Putin was less than honest?? The horror! nt

[longship]

5. I am not surprised by this.

And I don't see anything sinister in it. Of course Snowden put out feelers before he travelled to Russia. His destination was to be Latin America, but he would have been wise to consider the possibility of being apprehended enroute.

My question is why he chose Hong Kong in the first place if he intended Latin America as his destination?

Apparently, he hadn't exactly planned this out very well. That's what I think. Whether one could actually plan something like that out or not is a different matter. However, there might have been a flight from Hawaii to Latin America which could have served him well to get to safety before the shit hit the fan.

But now he's in Russia to stay for a little while.

[cloudythescribbler]

6. these tired old trashing snowden memes are totally unconvincing

first off, as Ellsberg notes, Snowden hadn't much choice. we see in the bradley manning trial the kind of "justice" offered to leakers -- not even allowed to have the court or jury consider the whistleblowing issue weighed against any purported bona fide national security concerns other than the bureaucratic hatred of leakers and rats. pointing to Russia's indeed serious human rights flaws is in this context a red herring resorted to over and over again

second, this was a "surprise' to Putin -- whether he first heard about Snowden a day or a week or what-have-you beforehand, this was, as he describes, something that very much fell in Russia's lap. Is it true that Putin leaves much to be desired, eg policy regarding gays? sure. but that doesn't mean that when he says something true -- almost certainly and obviously so -- he should be cast as a lying just because you want to discredit snowden's effort to get asylum. remember that the US had access to venezuela and other countries offering asylum blocked, leaving snowden in russia

as for tin foil hat -- this is ironic because the things snowden has revealed to be factually true -- and which have set off worldwide examination of the issues, with few outside the US trashing snowden like he's trashed here (by some not necessarily most) on DU, they are things that WOULD be called tin foil hat if claimed without the evidence that he had access to and revealed to a journalist of the highest caliber of responsibility (Greenwald). Now let's see how folk trash greenwald .....

[uhnope]

7. the defense of Snowden and Greenwald is totally unconvincing

I don't see how the appeal to Russia can be so easily dismissed. There are other places to go for a legit whistleblower with human rights concerns (vs. a confused Paulian semi-spy). Also, Greenwald is not of the highest caliber--his actions and writings have been very questionable.

I am middle of the road in all this, really. I am concerned about the overactive security state, but dismayed at the exaggeration, hero-worship, and Teabag-fodder hype of this whole particular aspect.