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August 2nd, 2013 
Peter Nolan
His once cropped hair appeared to have grown long during his five-and-a-half
week confinement in the transit zone of the airport, where he arrived from
Hong Kong after fleeing the United States.
His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, who was beside him in the photographs, said on
Friday: “Yes, the question of housing is resolved, everything is in
order.” Mr Kucherena earlier said that Mr Snowden had “acquired
friends in Russia, American friends, who can ensure his security for some
time”.
The location of his temporary whereabouts would not be revealed because he is “one
of the most wanted people on Earth”, the lawyer added.
Mr Snowden’s new status gives him the right to work and live wherever he likes
in Russia, and he is expected to actively seek a job because he is running
out of money.
Last month he said he would be in Russia temporarily while he sought a way to
reach South America, where Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered him
political asylum. However, Mr Kucherena said his client would be building a
new life in Russia and had no plans to leave soon.
Russia’s provision of Mr Snowden is expected to lead to a fresh diplomatic
downturn with Washington.
White House officials have hinted that Barack Obama may not visit Moscow to
see Vladimir Putin for a planned one-on-one meeting when the US president
travels to Russia for a G20 summit in St Petersburg next month.
Alexei Pushkov, a senior pro-Kremlin Russian MP, told the Kommersant newspaper
on Friday: “The Americans created the crisis themselves. Despite
Obama’s statement that he’s not going to force down an aeroplane because of
some kind of 29-year-old hacker they have blocked Snowden’s path and removed
the possibility for him to fly out safely, having held up the Bolivian
president’s plane. Now Snowden might stay in Russia forever.”
Mr Putin’s spokesman, however, claimed this week that the whistle-blower’s
fate was not high on the Russian president’s agenda.
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