U.S. rebukes countries about Snowden
Whitehouse’s frustration grows as U.S. continues to fail to get Russia, China and Ecuador to help
washington » An increasingly frustratedObama administration escalated its criticism Monday of Russia, China and Ecuador, the countries that appeared to be protecting Edward Snowden, the fugitive former government contractor wanted for leaking classified documents, who has eluded what has become a global American manhunt.
WhiteHouse spokesman JayCarney told reporters that relations with China had sufferedasetback because of its apparent role in approving a decision Sunday by Hong Kong to let Snowden board a flight toMoscowand avoid arrest — even though his passport had been revoked. Carney alsowarned the Russian authorities that they should expel Snowden into American custody.
Snowden, 30, a former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks about American surveillance activities have captivated world attention, apparently had been set to board a flight fromMoscowto Havana onMonday as part of an effort to seek political asylum in Ecuador, which has provided him with special travel papers. But in a deepening intrigue about his whereabouts, Snowden never boarded the flight.
Snowden’s vacant seat raised the possibility that the Russian government had detained him, either to consider Washington’s demands or perhaps to question him for Russia’s own purposes.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization that has said it is helping Snowden, told reporters Snowdenwas in a safe and secure place. The government of Ecuador, which is also protecting Assange, said it was still considering Snowden’s asylum request. But there was no direct word from Snowden himself.
American officials have reacted with increasing anger about their failure to win foreign cooperation in their pursuit of Snowden, who had been hiding in Hong Kong for the past few weeks with a trove of classified information on four laptop computers. Snowden has said he leaked the information about American surveillance to expose the government’s invasion of privacy. He has been charged with violating espionage laws.
Further ramping up the criticism Monday, Carney impugned Snowden’s motives and criticized the triumvirate of countries that appeared to be helping him.
“Mr. Snowden’s claim that he is focused on supporting transparency, freedom of the press and protection of individual rights and democracy is belied by the protectors he has potentially chosen: China, Russia, Ecuador, as we’ve seen,” Carney said. “His failure to criticize these regimes suggests that his true motive throughout has been to injure the national security of the United States, not to advance Internet freedom and free speech.”
In his first public comments since Snowden’s flight from Hong Kong, President BarackObamawas more restrained than his advisers. “We’re following all of the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that rule of law is observed,” he said in answer to a question before an immigration event.
Security was extremely tight at the gate at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport Monday as agents called passengers to board theHavana-bound Aeroflot aircraft. Police officers stood around the plane on the tarmac, and the entrance to the gate inside the terminal was cordoned off with about 25 feet of blue ribbon.
Snowdenwas said to have reserved a ticket on the flight, Aeroflot Flight 150, in coach seat 17A. But just before the plane pulled away, Nikolay Sokolov, an Aeroflot employee at the gate, said Snowden was not on board. “He is not there,” Sokolov said. “I was waiting myself.”
The unwillingness of theHong Kong authorities to detain Snowden, and Ecuador’s public declaration that it was considering his asylum request, underscored just how little sympathy the United States was receiving from several countries about the unveiling of its surveillance efforts.