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Lawyer calls claims of Snowden’s contact with Russian spy services ‘petulant nonsense’

The US House Intelligence Committee accuses Snowden of being in contact with Russian intelligence services

WASHINGTON, December 22. /TASS/. Lawyer of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Ben Wizner, has dismissed as "petulant nonsense" the declassified report of the US House Intelligence Committee.

"If you're going to read (or write about) this petulant nonsense, you should read this," the lawyer wrote on Twitter posting a reference to an article criticizing the first part of the report declassified in September.

The US House Intelligence Committee accused Snowden of contacts with Russia’s special services giving no particular evidence. "Since Snowden’s arrival in Moscow, he has had, and continues to have contact with Russian intelligence services," the report reads.

In early December, Snowden ruled out any such ties, stressing that he is keeping Russia’s special services at arm’s length since they allegedly contacted with him in 2013.

Edward Snowden is a computer expert who worked as a contractor for the US National Security Agency and leaked details of its mass surveillance programs to the press in 2013. Snowden was later granted a temporary asylum in Russia after spending more than a month in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. In August 2014, Snowden received a three-year residency permit in Russia. He faces years of jail time in the US on espionage charges.