Edward Snowden granted a year’s asylum in Russia

Edward Snowden has left Moscow airport and is now in the wild. Well not the literal wild, but the former NSA contractor turned whistle-blower has been granted refugee status by the Russian state after more than a month in the airport.

His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said that the man, wanted in the United States for leaking details of various state intelligence programmes, had left the airport and was heading for an unknown location which would remain a secret for the moment.

“I have just seen him off. He has left for a secure location … Security is a very serious matter for him,” Kucherena said.

Anti-secrecy organisation Wikileaks confirmed that Snwoden had left the airport, apparently under the care of one of its members:

FLASH: Edward Snowden has successfully acquired refugee status in Russia and will shortly leave the airport.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 1, 2013

FLASH: We can now confirm that Edward Snowden's welfare has been continuously monitored by WikiLeaks staff since his presence in Hong Kong.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 1, 2013

Edward Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia for a year and has now left Moscow airport under the care of WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 1, 2013

We would like to thank the Russian people and all those others who have helped to protect Mr. Snowden. We have won the battle–now the war.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 1, 2013

Snowden arrived in Moscow on 23 June from Hong Kong, where he had fled to prior to releasing details of the National Security Agency’s PRISM spying programme.

It had been expected that Snowden would seek asylum somewhere in South America, but it’s unlikely that he would’ve been able to get into any of those countries without crossing US airspace.