プーチンの思惑 － ロシア・アメリカ間の緊張高まる
CIAのスノーデン（といっても彼は若者である）が、機密情報を公開し、香港経由でロシアに向かったことで、アメリカは慌てふためき、プーチン(KGBのす元スパイ将校)は、ほくそ笑んでいる。人権蹂躙でアメリカから絶えず批判・非難を受けてきていることにたいし、憤りを覚えているから、この機会をどう利用しようかと楽しみながら考えてきたに相違ない。
アメリカはスペインに圧力をかけて、ボリビア首相の飛行機の航路を妨害させたりしてきている。またスノーデンの亡命申請を受け付けないように各国に圧力をかけてきている。
オバマはいう。「スノーデンは機密情報を漏えいするという犯罪を犯しているから、アメリカで裁かれるべきである。引き渡してもらいたい」と。
しかし、プーチンは、しばらくの沈黙の後、スノーデンに２人の人権活動家を隣席させて記者会見を空港で開かせるという演出に出た。大国ロシアはアメリカに屈することがあってはならない、というのはプーチンのかなり堅固な信念である。彼は、ソ連共産党の主義には何の興味をもっていないが、ソ連が大国であったということには憧れをもっており、それをつぶすことに貢献したゴルバチョフが嫌いである。
オバマはプーチンに電話会談を申し入れている。どのような話し合いになるのであろうか。注目される。
しかしプーチンはスノーデンをアメリカに引き渡すことはしないであろう。しばらくロシアにいて、その後、スノーデンが希望する南米に行くことになる可能性が高い。それまでの間、ロシア当局はスノーデンから徹底的に機密情報を聞き出すことに専念することであろう。プーチンはその道のプロなのである。
プーチンが反プーチン派の指導者に容赦のない、法の支配のない状態で、処罰してきていることも事実である。オバマが話をする相手はそういう相手でもある。
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Edward Snowden inflames US-Russian tensions with Moscow meeting
Obama and Putin to discuss situation after NSA whistleblower meets representatives of human rights agencies in Moscow
Paul Lewis in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 July 2013 22.46 BST
Edward Snowden (centre) gives a news conference at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow with human rights activists. Photograph: Itar-Tass/Corbis
The White House openly criticised Russia for giving Edward Snowden a "propaganda platform" on Friday, after the whistleblower was permitted to meet human rights activists in the Moscow airport where he has been trapped for three weeks.
Hours before Barack Obama was due to speak with Vladimir Putin on the telephone, senior US officials publicly chided Moscow for facilitating the high-profile event.
Snowden, a former contractor who leaked classified National Security Agency information about US surveillance tactics, has been trapped in a Sheremetyevo airport since arriving from Hong Kong on 23 June.
In his first public appearance since identifying himself as the source of the leaks last month, Snowden met human rights lawyers and announced that he intends to renew an earlier request for asylum in Russia, although in the longer term he said he will seek safe passage to Latin America.
Those present at the Moscow event said it must have been sanctioned or even choreographed by Russian officials; airport employees organised and conducted the event, and order was kept by a small cadre of policemen.
In Washington, Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said the president would discuss Snowden's case with Putin during a scheduled phone call. "I would simply say that providing a propaganda platform for Mr Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality, and that they have no control over his presence in the airport," he said.
"It is also incompatible with Russian assurances that they do not want Mr Snowden to further damage US interests."
He added: "We don't believe this should - and we don't want it to - do harm to our important relationship with Russia. We continue to discuss with Russia our strongly held view that there is absolute legal justification for him to be expelled, for him to be returned to the United States to face the charges that have been brought against him for the unauthorised leaking of classified information."
Asked about the involvement of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, both of which sent representatives to meet Snowden, Carney replied: "Those groups do important work. But Mr Snowden is not a human rights activist or a dissident. He is accused of leaking classified information, has been charged with three felony counts, and should be returned to the United States, where he will be afforded full due process."
In comments unlikely to smooth diplomatic relations, he said the Russian government should permit human rights groups to do their work "throughout Russia, not just at the Moscow [airport] transit lounge".
The White House would not be drawn on the likely content of Obama's phone call with Putin, but it seems inconceivable that the plight of the former NSA contractor will not be the subject of a difficult conversation.
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