Russian lawmaker says Snowden asylum period to be extended

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. secrets leaker Edward Snowden won't be pressured to leave Russia any time soon, a major Russian lawmaker said Friday.

The comment by parliamentarian Alexy Pushkov comes after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Snowden would not get clemency if he came home, CNN reported.

Pushkov, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia's lower house, the Duma, said Snowden's year-old asylum would be extended and he wouldn't be sent back to the United States.

The legislator made his remarks during the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland.

Holder said Thursday Snowden, who leaked secrets about U.S. and British intelligence gathering he collected while a contractor for the National Security Agency, could come home in a plea deal.

But clemency is out of the question, Holder said.

"We've always indicated ... that the notion of clemency isn't something that we were willing to consider," Holder said at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs.

"Instead, were he to come back to the United States to enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers," he said.

"We'd do that with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty," Holder told the university's non-partisan research institute.

Holder did not indicate if he was open to engaging in negotiations with Snowden while he remained in Russia, beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.

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Russian lawmaker says Snowden asylum period to be extended