Brainfade Posted June 26, 2013 Posted June 26, 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/25/edward-snowden-russia Welcome to our live blog coverage of NSA surveillance activities and the contractor who exposed them, Edward Snowden. Russia has responded sharply to warnings by US officials that Moscow must turn over Snowden. "I would like to say right away that we have no relation to either Mr Snowden or to his relationship with American justice or to his movements around the world," foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. He chose his route on his own, and we found out about it, as most here did, from mass media," Lavrov said during a joint press conference with Algeria's foreign minister. "He did not cross the Russian border." On Monday US secretary of state John Kerry suggested that Russia's failure to deliver Snowden – whose whereabouts are unknown – could be a violation of the rule of law. "We have returned seven prisoners to [Russia] in the last two years that they requested," Kerry said. "I think its very important to them to adhere to the rule of law and respect the relationship." Updated at 10.32am ET 10.34am ET Guardian Moscow correspondent Miriam Elder analyzes what Lavrov may have meant when he said Snowden "did not cross the Russian border: Lavrov, and Russian officials in general, are good with wordplay, but at the end of the day, they do tell the truth and are sticklers for following the letter of the law. It just means you have to read their words carefully. When Lavrov goes around repeatedly saying that Russia is not selling S-300 weapons systems to Syria, it’s technically true – they’re not selling new ones, but fulfilling rolling orders concluded in the past. So now everyone is trying to pick apart what Lavrov meant when he said that Snowden “did not cross the Russian borderâ€. Was he whisked away from the Hong Kong-Moscow flight to another plane, without going through passport control before getting to the transit area? Was the black car on the tarmac spotted by passengers a diplomatic vehicle waiting to take him to an embassy? Lavrov didn’t say “Snowden is not in Russia and has never been in Russiaâ€. Until he says that, we will be trying to figure out exactly what he meant. Read Miriam's news report from earlier today on how Moscow is handling the Snowden affair here.
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