米露中の駆け引き
CIAの職員が機密情報収集の実態を暴露し、香港、モスクワへと脱出した事件は多くの問題を露呈している。
諜報活動がいかに綿密に行われているのかが、担当者によって明らかにされたからである。CIAが外国の敵対勢力をつぶすために多くの活動を行ってきていることは現代史を少しでもかじった者なら知っている。パーレビ王朝の復活などもすぐに思い出される。
しかしいまはネット時代だから、情報収集能力はかつてとは比較にならない。アメリカ政府はこの職員を拘束できないという大失態をおかした。
そして中国、ロシアは、これを絶好の機会ととらえている。自由を主張し、国民を諜報活動で監視する国としてロシアや中国を批判し続けてきたアメリカにたいし、繊細一隅のチャンスととらえているのは明々白々である。いまスノーデンはモスクワの空港にいることがプーチン自らによって明らかにされた。プーチンの発言は、個人の自由を奪う権利はない、というアメリカのお株を奪う発言でアメリカからの強制退去命令願いに、ノーを突きつけるものとなっている。プーチンはKGBの出身で、秘密諜報活動のプロなのである。
アメリカはまことにカッコの悪いところをみせている。なんとかスノーデンをつれもどし裁判にかけて刑務所に入れることでだまらせようというのだが、プーチンは膨大な情報をスノーデンから得ることに全力をつくしていること、これはプーチンは否定しているが、は間違いがないであろう。
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Edward Snowden is in Moscow airport, says Vladimir Putin
Russian president brings end to mystery over whistleblower's whereabouts after days of confusion
• Miriam Elder in Moscow and Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing
• The Guardian, Tuesday 25 June 2013 19.29 BST
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has revealed that the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden is indeed in a Moscow airport, ending a global guessing game over the US fugitive's whereabouts.
The admission reversed days of Russian obfuscation and came just hours after Putin's foreign minister said Russia had nothing to do with Snowden's travel plans.
Putin said Snowden remained in Sheremetyevo airport's transit area and vowed that Moscow would not extradite the whistleblower to the US. He also insisted that Russia's security services had no contact with Snowden, a claim greeted with suspicion.
"Mr Snowden really did fly into Moscow," he said on an official visit to Finland on Tuesday. "For us it was completely unexpected," he claimed.
The White House responded on Tuesday by saying Russia had a "clear legal basis" to expel Snowden, which National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said was the status of his travel documents – the US has revoked his passport – and the pending espionage charges against him.
"Accordingly, we are asking the Russian government to take action to expel Mr. Snowden without delay and to build upon the strong law enforcement cooperation we have had, particularly since the Boston Marathon bombing," she said.
Snowden fled Hong Kong on Sunday morning to travel via Moscow to an undisclosed third country, according to WikiLeaks, which said it helped his travel. He has requested political asylum from Ecuador.
Putin said Snowden remained in Sheremetyevo's transit hall, although the high-profile whistleblower has not been spotted once by the dozens of journalists in the airport since Sunday. The airport has also hosted a heightened security service presence since Sunday afternoon.
Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where Edward Snowden is in transit, according to Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Bobylev Sergei/Itar-Tass Photo/Corbis
Putin said Russia's security services "did not work and are not working" with Snowden, who fled the United States before leaking documents on secret US surveillance programmes. The US has charged him under the Espionage Act.
He defended Russia's actions and said Snowden, possibly carrying untold numbers of government secrets, was treated like any other passenger. Yet passengers at Sheremetyevo usually have 24 hours to pass through the international transit zone.
"He arrived as a transit passenger – he didn't need a visa, or other documents," Putin said. The statement appeared to back comments made earlier Sunday previously by his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who insisted that Snowden "did not cross the Russian border" but did not comment on whether he was at the airport.
The US has urged Moscow to hand Snowden over. Speaking in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said: "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice."
Putin lashed out at US accusations that the Kremlin was harbouring a fugitive. "Any accusations against Russia are nonsense and rubbish," Putin said.
He also appeared to throw his support behind Snowden, as well as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently holed up at Ecuador's embassy in London.
"Assange and Snowden consider themselves human rights activists and say they are fighting for the spread of information," he said. "Ask yourself this: should you hand these people over so they will be put in prison?
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