Is Edward Snowden about to get out of Moscow's airport?

The NSA leaker's lawyer says Russia might let him walk free, temporarily. Then what?

Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport
(Image credit: AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Edward Snowden has been holed up in the transit zone of a Moscow airport for most of the last month, trying to avoid being sent home to the U.S. to face espionage charges for leaking secret documents on National Security Agency surveillance programs. But within days Snowden might finally be allowed to walk out the door and roam Russia freely, at least according to his Russian lawyer.

Snowden submitted a handwritten request for temporary asylum to Russian authorities this week. "Any day now, Snowden may get an official confirmation from the Federal Migration Service" that the application is being reviewed, his attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, tells the Los Angeles Times. "With this document, he will be able at last to leave the airport and properly and legally enter Russia."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.