1 Jul 2013 20:51

Snowden asks Russian for asylum - consul

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has formally asked Russia for asylum, a duty consul at the Russian consular station at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport said on Monday.

"At 10:30 p.m. yesterday, a British citizen, Sarah Harrison, contacted the consular station of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and introduced herself as a lawyer and representative of U.S. national Snowden. She passed over a request from Snowden for political asylum in Russia," Kim Shevchenko told Interfax.

Shevchenko said Harrison had handed him a set of documents from Snowden that he forwarded to the Foreign Ministry.