MOSCOW, July 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Russian Public Chamber, said on Wednesday that he expected Russia to give a positive answer to Edward Snowden’s asylum request but warned that should not be regarded as an unfriendly step towards the U.S. government.
Kucherena told journalists that the Russian Federal Migration Service would most likely reply positively to Snowden’s appeal. "There should not be any problems with that because the grounds he set forth in his asylum request (he wrote that he was worrying for his life and health and that he feared torture and capital punishment in the territory of the United States) were quite convincing,” the lawyer said.
"But the American government should not regard our humane step towards an American national as an unfriendly move,” Kucherena added.
"I am much more concerned with the hysteria over this case and daily remarks by the U.S. State Department…In fact, we cannot be inhumane to a person who has found himself in such a plight in the territory of a foreign country. What Russia is doing today and what we can do; all our efforts should be aimed at resolving this difficult situation. Naturally, it got protracted and dragged on only because when I met Snowden, he said that he did not understand what to do and how to behave,” Kucherena explained.
"I consider Russia and the United States to be two big powers. I think that we have absolutely normal relations. My attitude to the United States is very good, and I do not think that our humane treatment of a U.S. national will be able to destroy or deteriorate these relations in any way,” the Russian lawyer stressed.