The FSB and FBI are Engaged in Talks Over Snowden. Holder in Contact with Russia’s Justice Ministry
The American FBI and Russian FSB security services are “in talks” over US fugitive Edward Snowden, according to the Russian president’s spokesman.
However, Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia’s position that it “will not hand anyone over”.
Mr Snowden has been trapped in the transit zone at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for the past month as he has no valid travel documents.
The US wants him extradited for leaking details of surveillance programmes.
Mr Peskov did not specify what the nature of the talks between the agencies was.
He did, however, remind reporters that President Vladimir Putin had expressed a strong determination not to allow the case to interfere with US-Russian relations.
Mr Putin has refused to hand him to the American authorities, but said he could stay in Russia only if he stopped leaking US secrets.
Mr Snowden, whose passport has been cancelled by the US, has been in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport since arriving from Hong Kong on 23 June.
On Thursday Mr Snowden’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena denied earlier reports that Mr Snowden had been given Russian travel documents.
Attorney General Eric Holder has told the Russian government that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty for former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden.
In a letter dated July 23, the attorney general said the criminal charges Snowden faces do not carry the death penalty and that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty even if Snowden were charged with additional death penalty-eligible crimes.
Holder says his letter follows news reports that Snowden, who leaked information on largely secret electronic surveillance programs, has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty.
The attorney general’s letter was sent to Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov, the Russian minister of justice.
Earlier, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin says Russia has not budged from its refusal to extradite Snowden.