Snowden agrees to asylum in Venezuela: top lawmaker
10 July 2013 12:00 AM GMT
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who has been holed up in a Moscow airport for more than two weeks, has agreed to an offer of political asylum from Venezuela, a top pro-Kremlin lawmaker said on Tuesday.
‘As was expected, Snowden agreed to (Venezuelan president Nicolas) Maduro’s offer of political asylum,’ Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, said on Twitter. ‘Apparently this option looked like the most reliable one to Snowden,’ he added. Minutes after the announcement the statement was removed from his Twitter feed.
Pushkov’s announcement came after the leftist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua had over the past few days offered the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor asylum.
A day earlier, Maduro called on Snowden to decide if he wanted to fly to Caracas. ‘We have received the asylum request letter,’ Maduro told reporters from the presidential palace in Caracas.
‘As was expected, Snowden agreed to (Venezuelan president Nicolas) Maduro’s offer of political asylum,’ Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, said on Twitter. ‘Apparently this option looked like the most reliable one to Snowden,’ he added. Minutes after the announcement the statement was removed from his Twitter feed.
Pushkov’s announcement came after the leftist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua had over the past few days offered the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor asylum.
A day earlier, Maduro called on Snowden to decide if he wanted to fly to Caracas. ‘We have received the asylum request letter,’ Maduro told reporters from the presidential palace in Caracas.
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