Comment

Photo of the Day: First Lady and Daughters at the Great Wall of China

469
simoom3/24/2014 10:26:30 am PDT

A couple of old stories:

cnn.com

The elder Snowden, who arrived October 10 in Moscow, said the two visited several times. “He is comfortable, he is independent, he is happy — which is important to me — and he is absolutely committed to the decision that he made.”

Lon Snowden said his son told him he had had no contact with Russian security or intelligence.

foxnews.com

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denied speculation that US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden was interrogated by Russian authorities, telling Australian media they had “behaved well”.

Assange, who is standing for election in Australia’s upcoming national polls, said WikiLeaks personnel had been with Snowden since he left Hong Kong and arrived in Sheremetyevo airport’s transit zone on June 23.

“Since Hong Kong we have had someone physically by his side the entire time,” he said in an interview with Australia’s Fairfax Media published online on Friday.

“We have had someone with him for 54 days.”

Asked whether Snowden had been interviewed by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) or any other Russian intelligence agency, Assange said, “No, he has not.”

From Snowden’s recent EU parliament written testimony:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/…/20140307ATT80674EN.pdf

Did the Russian secret service approach you?

Of course. Even the secret service of Andorra would have approached me, if they had had the chance: that’s their job.

But I didn’t take any documents with me from Hong Kong, and while I’m sure they were disappointed, it doesn’t take long for an intelligence service to realize when they’re out of luck. I was also accompanied at all times by an utterly fearless journalist with one of the biggest megaphones in the world, which is the equivalent of Kryptonite for spies. As a consequence, we spent the next 40 days trapped in an airport instead of sleeping on piles of money while waiting for the next parade. But we walked out with heads held high.

I would also add, for the record, that the United States government has repeatedly acknowledged that there is no evidence at all of any relationship between myself and the Russian intelligence service.