Russia Had No ‘Moral, Legal’ Reasons to Hand Snowden Over to US - Envoy

Moscow had no moral or legal obligations to turn former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden over to US authorities given the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries, Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak said during a panel discussion at Johns Hopkins University.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Snowden made revelations about widespread US surveillance practices around the world in 2013. The same year, Russia granted him temporary asylum for one year.

In August 2014, Snowden received a three-year residence permit to live in Russia.

Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia’s Channel One in an interview that allegations Moscow had recruited Snowden were nonsense.

"When Mr. Snowden got stuck in a Russian airport, we didn’t have any legal or moral reasons to give him to the government of the United States, for the very simple reason that we do not have an agreement for mutual extradition," Kislyak stated on Tuesday.

Russia did not intentionally solicit Snowden, Kislyak continued, but it was through a series of coincidental events that he would up in a Moscow airport.