Confusion on Snowden acceptance of Venezuela offer

MOSCOW — NSA leaker Edward Snowden accepted Venezuela's offer of political asylum, according to a posting today (July 9) on the Twitter account of a Russian lawmaker with close ties to the Kremlin. However, the tweet disappeared a few minutes later. It was not possible to immediately reach Mr Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee who has acted as an unofficial point-man for the Kremlin on the Snowden affair. Mr Snowden, who revealed details of a United States intelligence program to monitor Internet activity, came to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on June 23 and was believed to be headed for Cuba. But he did not board that flight and has not been seen publicly since. He is widely believed to still be in the airport's transit zone. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Saturday his country has not yet been in contact with Mr Snowden, who has been unable to travel further because the US annulled his passport. For Mr Snowden to leave for South America, he would need for Venezuela to issue him travel documents and he would need to find a way to get there. The only direct commercial flight from Moscow stops in Havana, Cuba. The Moscow-Havana flight goes over Europe and the US, which could cause complications. Some European countries refused to allow Bolivian President Evo Morales to fly through their airspace on his way home from Moscow last week because of suspicions that Mr Snowden was on his plane. The presidents of Bolivia and Nicaragua also said over the weekend that Mr Snowden was welcome in their countries. AP