Maduro may bring Snowden to Minsk?

The president of Venezuela can personally take the fugitive CIA officer from Moscow.

The information was received from a source in Vladimir Putin's administration, Izvestia reports.

The question of granting political asylum for Edward Snowden is expected to be raised at a meeting of the two politicians. “But the final decision on a possibility of granting political asylum and transportation to Caracas will be taken by Nicolas Maduro,” the source added.

The Venezuelan president takes part in the gas summit in Moscow scheduled for July 1—2. He is expected to visit Minsk and meet with Lukashenka after the summit. Nicolas Maduro said some days ago that he was ready to welcome the ex-CIA officer in his country if the latter filed a formal request.

As reported earlier, Lukashenka can give asylum for the ex-CIA whistleblower, who told journalists about the programme of collecting personal data of citizens. This opinion was expressed by Leonid Kalashnikov, the first deputy chair of the Russian Duma Committee on International Affairs. He said it was possible that the ex-CIA officer would go from Moscow to Minsk.

As of June 25, Snowden hasn't applied to the Belarusian MFA for political asylum.