Skip to main content

Russia rebuts US attempts to have Edward Snowden extradited

Donald Trump is expected to discuss Snowden's return when he meets with Putin

United States President Donald Trump is expected to pressure Russia to hand over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in exchange for sanctions relief at the upcoming Trump-Putin summit; however, Russia has emphasized that they “are not in a position” to expel Snowden and will “respect his rights" if any such attempt is made.

I have never discussed Edward Snowden with (Donald Trump's) administration,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said to Channel 4 reporters. “When he (Putin) was asked the question, he said this is for Edward Snowden to decide. We respect his rights, as an individual. That is why we were not in a position to expel him against his will because he found himself in Russia even without a U.S. passport, which was discontinued as he was flying from Hong Kong.

Snowden, who is being prosecuted in the United States for leaking classified documents that showed surveillance abuse by U.S. intelligence agencies, was given political asylum in Russia after his passport was revoked.

Edward Snowden is the master of his own destiny,” Lavrov said.

Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 in Helsinki, where Putin is expected to push for an end to U.S. sanctions. Trump has said he would like better relations with Russia, perhaps as a way of pulling them away from China, but Trump's opponents in the United States are already applying political pressure on him for holding the summit, in the midst of the tensest U.S.-Russian relations since the height of the Cold War.

The fate of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange also lay in the balance when U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno this week.

The vice president raised the issue of Mr. Assange. It was a constructive conversation. They agreed to remain in close coordination on potential next steps going forward,” a White House official said in a statement.

Julian Assange has lived in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, with an arrest warrant in Britain preventing him from leaving the embassy.

Source:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

F-35s & AI Chips: How MBS Outplayed Washington & Beijing

GVS Deep Dive  Saudi Arabia just secured two of the most powerful assets in modern geopolitics: the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter and tens of thousands of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Washington hoped this would pull Riyadh firmly back into the American orbit. But the outcome is something neither side fully expected: Mohammad bin Salman outplayed both Washington and Beijing — and used the great-power rivalry to his advantage.

Greece, Palestine & Zionism: FPTV Reports from Athens

Free Palestine TV   Laith Marouf & Rabih Ghannam travel to Athens, Greece, and take a walking tour with local activists Evan Katsounis and Maria Kosmidi, to discover the rich history of anti-Zionist and anti-Fascist actions in the city, as well as the current Zionist incursion into the property sector and the counter actions directed at the presence of these War Criminals on the streets of the city. 

Trump RUINED: Israel First Lies & Economic Freefall Just ENDED MAGA

Danny Haiphong   Tucker Carlson isn't the only journalist breaking with Trump. In this video, Patrick Henningsen goes scorched earth on Trump's massive betrayal of what he promised his "MAGA" base and blows the lid off how his massive lies serve as a cover up for a much bigger structural problem in America's 'Israel First' political system, what Tucker and major voices in elite MAGA won't tell you.  

Trump BLEW IT: Israel, Candace Owens & Epstein BURY MAGA (But Not How You Think)

Danny Haiphong   Trump has bent the knee to Israel for the last time. Patrick Henningsen exposes his horrid record and all the elements that has led to his rapidly coming collapse. 

Capitalism & Genocide - Yanis Varoufakis Speech at the Gaza Tribunal, 23rd October 2025, Istanbul

Yanis Varoufakis   On 23rd October, Yanis Varoufakis testified in front of the Jury of Conscience in the context of the Gaza Tribunal. His speech focused on the economic forces underpinning the genocide of the Palestinian people. In particular, he spoke on the manner in which capitalist dynamics have historically fuelled the white settler colonial project and, more recently, how the accumulation of a new form of capital - which he calls cloud capital - has accelerated, deepened and amplified the economic forces powering and propelling the machinery of genocide. 

Varoufakis: IT technologies will overthrow Capitalism

globinfo freexchange The former Greek Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, ended his recent speech on the Future of Capitalism, at the New School, New York, with some interesting remarks. As he said: The world we live in, is increasingly rudderless, in a constant slow burning recession, while at the very same time, the increasing concentration in the IT sector is creating the new technologies that will do that which the Left has failed to do: overthrow Capitalism. It is really very simple. The moment machines pass the Turing test properly, and you pick up the phone and you do not know whether the person you are talking to is a human being or a machine ˙ the moment we are going to have 3D printers operating as public utilities - you can send any blueprint to it and it can print from one pin to a motorcycle, or to a car - the moment that this happens, we have not just a process of Schumpeterian creative destruction, but we have a process where economies of sc...

Racing Extinction

suggested by failedevolution.blogspot 18th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Scientists predict that humanity’s footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century. They believe we have entered the sixth major extinction in Earth’s history, following the fifth great extinction which took out the dinosaurs. Our era is called the Anthropocene, or “Age of Man,” because evidence shows that humanity has sparked a cataclysmic change of the world’s natural environment and animal life. Yet, we are the only ones who can stop the change we have created. The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), the group behind the Academy Award-winning film The Cove, is back with a new groundbreaking documentary. Joined by new innovators, this highly charged, impassioned collective of activists brings a voice to the thousands of species teetering on the very edge of life. The director has crafted an ambitious mission to clearly and artfu...

Trump Welcomes Syrian Leader & “REFORMED” TERRORIST To White House!

The Jimmy Dore Show   President Donald Trump is planning a White House welcome for Syria’s new president, former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was installed after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Jimmy Dore argues that the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, have long funded extremist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda to serve foreign policy interests in the Middle East, so the embrace of al-Sharaa makes sense, even if it might confuse anyone who thought we took seriously the so-called “War on Terror.” He and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger contrast Trump’s willingness to meet with alleged terrorists to his refusal to engage in dialogue with leaders like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, accusing U.S. policy of hypocrisy and imperialism.  

How The CIA & Mossad Set Up Sudan for Genocide since the 1990s

MintPress News   Sudan is being systematically destroyed - not by accident, but by design. This investigation reveals how US imperialism, through Israeli and UAE proxies, has engineered Sudan's collapse since the 1990s to crush the axis of resistance, block China's Belt and Road, and loot Africa's resources families are killed, children starve, and the west profits. 

Maduro's opening to China

“ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said he hopes Venezuela will use bilateral financing mechanisms and channel more funds to the areas of energy, mining, agriculture and industry while meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.” “ Financing mechanisms between the two countries total more than 50 billion U.S. dollars, according to Venezuelan experts. Financing mechanisms, including the China-Venezuela Fund, have provided financial support for some 256 projects. China and Venezuela upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Xi's visit to Venezuela in 2014, opening a new chapter in bilateral ties.” “ During their meeting, Xi called on the two sides to push bilateral ties to a higher-level. China supports Venezuela's efforts in restructuring its economy and establishing a manufacturing economic model, he said. Xi suggested the two countries push forward cooperation in the fields of oil exploration, infrastru...