Edward Snowden may extend refugee status in Russia

Moscow, June 5: Fugitive US intelligence whistleblower

could extend his refugee status in Russia, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

"Everything is fine, we are dealing with issues to extend the status, so everything is ok," Interfax news agency quoted Anatoly Kucherena as saying, according to Xinhua.

The attorney said Snowden was homesick, but did not say whether or not the former US National Security Agency contractor had pled for the extension formally.

Vladimir Volokh, head of the Public Council of Russia's Federal Migration Service (FMS), said on Monday that Snowden had to make a written request for the extension, adding "no additional documents are filed if the circumstances have not changed".

Snowden had to make a written request for the extension

On Tuesday, FMS head Konstantin Romodanovsky said the potential extension of political asylum for Snowden was a pure matter of the organisation's Moscow bureau, not of the headquarters.

In an interview aired by a Brazilian TV station Sunday evening, Snowden said he had requested asylum from Brazilian government, and he would be happy to live in Brazil if the government approves his request.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian foreign ministry denied Monday that Snowden had formally requested for asylum.

Snowden faces three felonies charges in the US after he unveiled the country's highly classified intelligence project codenamed PRISM. He fled to Russia in June, 2013, only to find his passport revoked by Washington and was reportedly trapped in a Moscow airport's transit area for over a month before receiving a one-year asylum.

IANS