Father of NSA leaker Snowden vists Moscow to meet son
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - This Sunday, June 9, 2013 file photo provided by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows Edward Snowden, in Hong Kong. Russian state news agency said Wednesday, July 24, 2013 that US leaker Edward Snowden has been granted a document that allows him to leave the transit zone of a Moscow airport and enter Russia. Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Rusia last week after his attempts to leave the airport were thwarted. The United States wants him sent home to face prosecution for espionage. (AP Photo/The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, File)
The father of former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow Thursday morning to meet with his son who has received asylum in Russia and has been living at a secret location.
Lon Snowden told a Russian television outside Moscow's airport that he doubts his son, Edward Snowden, will return to the United States, where he is charged with violating the Espionage Act for disclosing NSA's highly classified surveillance of phone and Internet usage around the world.
"I'm not sure that my son will be returning to the US again, Lon Snowden said but added that "that's his decision." He also said he has not had direct contact with his son and would not say when or where he will be meeting him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Edward Snowden was stuck at a Moscow airport for more than a month after his arrival in Hong Kong on June 23. He was granted asylum in Russia in August. His whereabouts remain secret although his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, insists that Snowden lives in Russia.
Lon Snowden said that it is his understanding has now stopped leaking information.
He thanked Russia and President Vladimir Putin for sheltering his son.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Edward Snowden's asylum status has strained the already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia, and President Barack Obama has called off a meeting with President Putin at a Russia-hosted summit in September.