MOSCOW/BRUSSELS/PARIS: Russia criticized France, Spain and Portugal yesterday for delaying the Bolivian president's flight home from Moscow this week over suspicions that former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was on his plane.
There is no evidence Snowden was on board and, after the initial refusals to let the plane enter the European Union member states' airspace, President Evo Morales was able to fly home on Wednesday after a forced stopover in Austria.
"The actions of the authorities of France, Spain and Portugal could hardly be considered friendly actions toward Bolivia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website.
"Russia calls on the international community to comply strictly with international legal principles," it said.
Morales had been attending a summit of natural gas exporters in Moscow, where Russian officials say Snowden has been in an airport transit area since flying in from Hong Kong on June 23, hoping to be granted political asylum in a third country.
The United States has been trying to get its hands on Snowden since he revealed details of secret surveillance programmes and Morales has said he would consider granting the American refuge if requested.
Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, has blamed the United States for Morales' plane being blocked. The White House has declined to comment.
NATO says its security not compromised by alleged US spying
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday he had no reason to believe that NATO's security had been compromised by alleged US spying on its European allies.
The German magazine Der Spiegel, citing secret documents, reported last Saturday that the United States had bugged European Union offices in Brussels and gained access to EU internal computer networks.
Der Spiegel quoted from a September 2010 "top secret" US National Security Agency (NSA) document that it said fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had taken with him.
The magazine mentioned a NATO link, reporting that more than five years ago security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls and traced them to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels.
Questioned about the Spiegel report at a news conference, Rasmussen said he had no information about possible NSA facilities within the U.S. representation at NATO.
"NATO is not involved in this. I don't consider it a NATO problem. I have no reason to believe that NATO security has been compromised in any way," he said.
The United States and other NATO members have offices at the sprawling NATO headquarters complex in Brussels. Rasmussen said he had not asked the US government about the spying reports. "I am very much focused on strengthening the transatlantic relationship," he said.
French interior minister opposes asylum for Snowden
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said yesterday that he was opposed to granting fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden asylum.
Valls told BMFTV that France had not received a request for asylum from Snowden. He said such a request would be studied but that he personally opposed it — the first time a French government official has explicitly rejected the idea of granting Snowden asylum.
"This request, if it is made, poses a number of legal problems. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not in favour," Valls said, noting: "The United States is a democratic country, with an independent judicial system."
Snowden has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area since June 23, seeking to avoid US espionage charges for revealing a vast surveillance programme to collect phone and Internet data. He has requested asylum in 21 countries.
