Lawyer Kucherena denies reports of CIA director's meeting with Snowden
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer for former U.S. special services employee Edward Snowden, has denied media reports that the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly met with Snowden in Moscow and that negotiations on his handover or exchange allegedly took place.
Kucherena dismissed these reports as a provocation.
"I would not like to respond to such provocations at all. I believe that all this talk is a product of someone's sick imagination," Kucherena told Interfax on Friday.
"The CIA director is a very busy person. And a situation where he would abandon his important duties and would urgently come to Moscow in order to meet Edward Snowden belongs to the field of curious stories," he said.
When commenting on the prospect of turning over Snowden, Kucherena suggested that "all talk surrounding Snowden is speculation to a great extent."
"When speaking about any negotiations and generally the possibility of his exchange, handover or simply his return to his home country, first and foremost it is necessary to understand that, first, this information is not true, and, second, he has not committed any crime here, in Russia, he has a residence permit in our country," the lawyer said.
"In this case, no politics can influence the situation with human rights, including as far as Edward Snowden is concerned," he added.
