Chuck Schumer Is Furious At Vladimir Putin For 'Stabbing Us In The Back' Over 'Coward' Snowden

[Spider Jerusalem]

49. Espionage is inherently a political crime.

Any crime whose target is the State is by definition political.

And they weren't going to extradite; there's no reason why they should, in the absence of a treaty, and given the USA's refusal to extradite Chechen terrorists wanted by Russia.

There's a significant question of whether the USA's legal system in this instance can be said to comply with international law. The USA routinely and regularly uses solitary confinement of prisoners (which is regarded as torture by the UN); routinely executes prisoners (which even Russia doesn't do), and has a recent history of persons being held prisoner without trial under degrading conditions.

You can argue all you want that Russia is worse and therefore it's perfectly reasonable to refuse to extradite persons wanted in Russia; however, it seems...very optimistic to think that Russia should be under any obligation to extradite a person sought by the US legal system in return.

And in any case even IF the USA had an extradition treaty with Russia, and extradition happened routinely, Russia would be under no obligation to extradite Snowden, because he is charged with espionage, which is a political offence and specifically excluded from extradition treaties. (I am not sure why you have such a hard time understanding this.)