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RT
July 25, 2013
The Senate Appropriations Committee said Thursday that they want the Department of State to consider imposing sanctions on any nation willing to assist NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
A hearing held by the 30 member, bi-partisan Senate committee Thursday afternoon in Washington ended with a unanimous decision by way of voice vote to move towards sanctioning countries coming to the aid of the former intelligence analyst.
Snowden, 30, has been charged with espionage and other counts by the United States for leaking classified National Security Agency documents to the media. He has been on the run from authorities for nearly two months and is currently in Moscow awaiting the results of an asylum request filed with Russia’s Federal Migration Service. Should the Kremlin come to Snowden’s aid, however, some lawmakers in the US say the State Department should respond with sanctions.
On Thursday, one of the leaker’s most vocal critics in Congress succeeded in having his colleagues advance a bill that directs the Secretary of State John Kerry “to consult with the appropriate congressional committees on sanction options against any country that provides asylum to Mr. Snowden, including revocation or suspension of trade privileges and preferences.”
The bill’s author, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), told the committee, “I don’t know if he’s going to stay in Russia forever. I don’t know where he’s going to go . . . But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he’s allegedly committed.”
An indictment against Snowden was unsealed last month while he was reportedly in hiding in Hong Kong. Just hours later, Snowden surfaced in Moscow and has since been confined to the transit area of the Sheremetyevo airport.
Snowden filed asylum requests with more than 20 countries, and has been offered assistance from Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Earlier this week he met with his attorney at Sheremetyevo, who then told RT that Snowden is seeking Russian’s permission to stay in the country indefinitely.
“He’s planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job. And I think that all his further decisions will be made considering the situation he found himself in,” attorney Anatoly Kucherena told RT.
Sen. Graham previously demanded Russia remove Snowden from the country and suggested the US boycott the Sochi Olympics if Pres. Vladimir Putin agrees to keep Snowden safe from the reach of American authorities. Last month Graham called the ordeal “an important test of the ‘reset’ in relations between our two countries,” and said, “If our two nations are to have a constructive relationship moving forward, Russian cooperation in this matter is essential.”
