Russia gives Snowden document allowing him to leave airport: Report

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

In this image provided by Human Rights Watch, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, center, attends a news conference at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport with Sarah Harrison of WikiLeaks, left, Friday, July 12, 2013. AP Photo/Human Rights Watch, Tanya Lokshina

Russia's migration service has provided fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden with a document that allows him to leave the Moscow airport transit zone where he has been holed up for the last month, RIA Novosti news agency said Wednesday.

The document confirms that his application for asylum in Russia is being considered but allows Snowden to cross the Russian border so long as border guards do not object, it said. The agency added that the document was initially given to the lawyer helping him, Anatoly Kucherena, who was now on his way to Sheremetyevo airport and about to arrive.

The Interfax news agency said Snowden could leave the airport in the "next hours".

"The American is currently getting ready to leave. He is being provided with new clothes," Interfax said.
 
RIA Novosti cited a source within the Russian border guards service as saying he would be allowed to leave the airport as soon as he presents the document.
 
Snowden earlier this month applied for asylum, a process that could take up to three months. Kucherena has said he may even apply for Russian citizenship.