U.S. sent extradition requests for Snowden, WikiLeaks saysJuly 17, 2013 - 09:51 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States sent extradition requests for former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden to five countries, WikiLeaks said in its Twitter account on Wednesday, July 17, according to RIA Novosti. “Extradition reqs [requests] for Snowden already sent by U.S. to Hong Kong, Venezuela, Bolivia, Iceland, Ireland,” WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy group that has been assisting the former intelligence contractor, reported. Snowden, 29, admitted to leaking a secret court order to the media in early June, according to which U.S. telecom company Verizon was required to provide data from millions of customers to the U.S. authorities for three months. He also claims an Internet scouring program code-named PRISM allowed the NSA and the FBI to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies and to gather all kinds of information from users, including videos, emails, searches and images. Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23. He has since remained in geopolitical limbo in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport, while trying to find a country to grant him asylum. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would consider granting Snowden asylum under the condition that he stop his work aimed at “damaging our American partners,” an option Snowden initially rejected, but apparently accepted after failing to secure safe passage to Latin American countries that had offered him asylum - Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |