Snowden seeks asylum in venezuela – usa insists on extradition

Whistleblower edward snowden, hunted by the u.S. As a traitor, has officially requested asylum in venezuela. This was confirmed by the venezuelan head of state nicolas maduro. The intelligence specialist must now decide when he wants to fly to venezuela, said the president. U.S. Citizen snowden has been stuck in the transit area of moscow’s sheremetyevo airport for more than two weeks, according to russian reports. The 30-year-old does not have a russian visa, and the U.S. Has canceled his passport.
The russian leadership had repeatedly stressed that it would not bow to pressure from the U.S. Political scientist alexei makarkin stressed that russia should continue not to extradite snowden to the u.S. "If u.S. President barack obama does cancel his planned september visit to moscow because of snowden, it would not be a disaster", makarkin told the newspaper "moskovsky komsomolets" (tuesday). "Russia has tried to compromise with an offer of asylum, but it was too little for snowden and too much for the U.S. – this shows that a solution will be very difficult."
In washington, national security council spokeswoman bernadette meehan told the dpa news agency that obama plans to travel to russia in september. Government spokesman jay carney said the u.S. Still wanted to capture snowden. Washington was in contact with all the countries to which he could flee or which he could fly over on a flight. Carney again called on moscow to extradite snowden. Russia refuses to do so, citing, among other things, the possibility of the death penalty in the U.S.