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Snowden and NSA leaks

Situation around Snowden cannot undermine Russia-US common interests - Lavrov

There is no cold war between us, he said

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

WASHINGTON, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - The episode with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden cannot undermine common interests of Russia and the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after a 2+2 meeting involving Russian and U.S. foreign policy and defence chiefs.

“There is no cold war between us,” he said. “On the contrary, we have a very close partnership and a very good potential for its strengthening. Snowden is an anomaly, I think it was an episode.”

“We have stated our arguments more than once, the president and Federal Migration Service officials spoke about it,” Lavrov noted. “In the situation around Edward Snowden, we acted in line with our laws and norms of international law. We could not act in a different way. Moreover, we have no extradition agreement with the United States because the Americans have been refusing to sign it with us for years.”

According to Lavrov, too many emotions are focused around Snowden. “But this is an episode which cannot and must not undermine our common interests,” he added.

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