Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor, has applied for asylum in Russia in an attempt to end his lengthy stay in legal and diplomatic limbo somewhere in Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport.
Kim Shevchenko, an employee at the airport’s consular department, said he had been visited on Sunday evening by Sarah Harrison, a lawyer for WikiLeaks who is travelling with Mr Snowden. “She came at 22.30 and handed me an envelope [with the asylum papers],” Mr Shevchenko said.
The papers were transported by courier to Russia’s migration service an hour later, he added. He said he did not know where Ms Harrison and Mr Snowden were staying in the airport.