Russia in dilemma as Snowden seeks temporary asylum

The Vladimir Putin government in Russia finds itself on a cleft stick after Edward Snowden, wanted in the US after he leaked that country's massive global electronic surveillance programme, sought temporary asylum.

Snowden has been holed up in a Moscow airport lounge for more than three weeks now, as he seeks to fly to a country that will grant him asylum. Russia has so far made no move to arrest or extradite him, even as it refuses to let him leave the airport.

Snowden's latest request for temporary asylum puts Putin in a quandary, as allowing the American to stay in Russia even temporarily would upset Washington; but a refusal would be seen by the Russians, and the world at large, as a kowtowing to its former Cold War enemy.

Asked whether the affair would cast a shadow over a US-Russia summit due in September in Moscow, Putin told reporters during a visit to the eastern Siberian town of Chita today, "Bilateral relations, in my opinion, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of the secret services."

Putin did not say whether Russia would grant Snowden's temporary asylum request, but made it clear he was still insisting Snowden must agree to do nothing to harm the United States before his request is considered.

"We warned Snowden that any action by him that could cause damage to Russian-American relations is unacceptable for us," Putin said.

Russia would take an independent decision on Snowden's fate, but maintaining relations with Washington was also a "national objective", the president added.

Reuters suggests that Snowden is useful as a propaganda tool for Putin, who accuses the US government of preaching to the world about rights and freedoms it does not uphold at home.

But at the same time, Putin wants the summit with Obama to go ahead and both countries have signalled they want to improve relations, strained by issues ranging from the Syrian conflict to Putin's treatment of opponents since he started a six-year third term in 2012.

A lawyer helping Snowden with his asylum request said on Tuesday that he had given him a verbal promise that he would stop activities directed against the United States.

But a human rights activist who attended a meeting with Snowden at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Friday said the American did not regard his leaks as harmful to his home country.

Snowden, 30, says the United States has prevented him from flying to Latin America - where Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela have offered to give him refuge - by putting pressure on other countries not to help him escape US 'justice'.

The US administration on Tuesday repeated its call for Russia to send Snowden back to the United States.

"He is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident. He is accused of leaking classified information," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.