Bureaucratic Snags Keep Snowden in Moscow Airport

It's Russia

MOSCOW -- National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden met with his Russian lawyer Wednesday, but ran into bureaucratic snags in his bid for temporary political asylum and was unable to leave his airport refuge as he had hoped.

The 30-year-old former defense contractor, who fled first to Hong Kong and then Russia, has been holed up in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport since June 23. …

"Unfortunately, the situation that has come about is not standard for Russia, [we are] facing some bureaucracy: the documents are still being considered … We will wait and hope that the issue will be resolved in next several days," RIA Novosti quoted Kucherena as saying.