Russians Wary Of Snowden Asylum

After spending six weeks ensconced in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Edward Snowden was finally permitted to leave the airport “transit zone” after he received temporary asylum in Russia for the period of one year. Slipping past the media circus and apparently departing in a taxi, Snowden managed to keep his ultimate destination a secret. His Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, stated that Snowden is “the most wanted man on planet earth” [en] and therefore his safety is not guaranteed. This lack of information hasn’t prevented netizens from contemplating Snowden’s new life as a Russian resident.

Snowden has become a divisive figure in Russia — his decision to hitch his wagon to Putin’s makes opposition and human rights activists uneasy, while his status as a defected “spy” alienates many of Putin’s supporters. Some of Snowden’s detractors took obvious pleasure in imagining him failing to find happiness in his new home.

Related: Snowden, the NSA, and Latin America: Beyond the Headlines

LiveJournal user AlexThunder [ru] had a particularly dark vision [ru] for Snowden’s future as a liability to the Russian government:

Another blogger, commenting [ru] on news of Snowden’s successful asylum application on the Echo Moskvy website, seemed to pity, rather than gloat:

At least one prominent Russian appears to believe that Snowden has a brighter future. Pavel Durov, founder of the Russia’s most popular social networking site VKontakte, posted [ru] on his own VKontakte page that he would be happy for Snowden to come and work at his company:

Durov has had a tempestuous relationship [GV] with Russian authorities and has maintained a low profile since he was accused of a hit-and-run against a St. Petersburg traffic cop (the charges were later dropped [GV]). His offer could be an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Russian elite, a genuine ideological sympathy with a fellow libertarian (Durov supports internet freedom initiatives), or a simple publicity stunt.

Related: Does the NSA Tap That? What We Still Don’t Know About the Agency’s Internet Surveillance

Perhaps the most biting reaction to Snowden’s successful asylum application came from Roman Dobrokhotov, a young journalist and long time member of the opposition who had previously noted [ru] the similarity of PRISM to Russia’s SORM internet-monitoring system [GV]. Dobrokhotov penned an “Open letter to Edward Snowden” on his Facebook, which was re-published on the Ekho Moskvy [ru] and Novaya Gazeta [ru] websites, and later translated into English [en] on Index on Censorship. Dobrokhotov’s letter is veritably dripping with sarcasm:

Dobrokhotov ended the letter with a few sardonic pieces of advice:

Snowden’s future in is uncertain. He is a guest of the Russian state and will almost certainly be expected not to abuse that hospitality by making statements critical of the Russian government. His status is temporary and will presumably be up for review when it expires, and it is unclear if he will be able to leave Russia in the meantime to travel to one of the other countries that have offered him asylum. If he wishes to avoid a long prison sentence back home, Snowden will have to maintain a low profile and hope that a diplomatic thaw between US and Russia doesn’t lead to an extradition.

This post was originally published on Global Voices.