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NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden could be extradited to the US by Vladimir Putin in a swap deal for a Russian criminal, reports MailOnline.
Last month, NBC quoted a senior US official saying Russia was considering a Snowden handover 'to curry favor' with Trump.
The move would be seen as a Putin 'gift to Trump', paving the way for warmer relations and an end to sanctions, it was claimed.
Snowden could face a 1,000 year prison sentence for leaking NSA secrets in any deal handing him back to the US.
His attorney Wolfgang Kaleck recently asked the European Parliament to consider granting him asylum.
RW note: As far as I am aware, exchanges in the past have been spies for spies where both Russia and the U.S. have exchanged to free spies that have been spying on behalf of their countries.
A return of Snowden would be the return of an anti-government spy who would be tried by the United States.
I'll believe it when I see it. This isn't the first time we've seen a statement along these lines - is it? To me it seems to be a pretty transparent attempt at 'showing' that Trump and Putin are in cahoots (maybe they are, but it doesn't seem likely).
ReplyDeleteAnd, as with so much in the news today, it's enough that this is presented to the public as news - many will believe even if nothing becomes of it.
Even if Trump were to lift the sanctions (assuming he can), the Senate can re-impose them. Putin must know that.
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