Fugitive national security contractor Edward Snowden has filed the paperwork to extend his refuge in Russia as the July 31 expiration of his asylum grant approaches, his lawyer told Russian media on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Snowden has indicated in interviews during his yearlong stay in Russia that he would like to move on elsewhere or even come home to the United States if he could be assured of getting a fair trial on the espionage charges the U.S. Justice Department has filed against him. <\/p>\n
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FOR THE RECORD <\/p>\n
An earlier version of this post misspelled Pentagon papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg's last name as Ellsburg. <\/p>\n
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But with little indication from Washington that any deal to repatriate him is in the offing, the 31-year-old fired by the National Security Agency last year after leaking reams of classified information has apparently hedged his bets and gotten a jump on the bureaucratic process of extending his Russian visa. <\/p>\n
\"We have filed documents to extend his stay on the territory of Russia,\" attorney Anatoly Kucherena told the Interfax news agency. <\/p>\n
Snowden was granted temporary asylum on Aug. 1 last year after being marooned for more than a month in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. He had arrived without a visa for Russia en route to a self-imposed exile in Cuba but was unable to travel on because his U.S. passport had been revoked. <\/p>\n
Felony charges were filed against the NSA contractor after he revealed classified program files that showed massive surveillance of private citizens' emails, phone calls and texts in pursuit of terrorists' communications. <\/p>\n
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