The U.S. Pressures China, Russia and Ecuador in Their Hunt for Snowden

It seems that American authorities will do anything and offend anyone in their efforts to get their hands on Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower.

After claiming to be disappointed by the decision taken by the authorities in Hong Kong when they permitted Snowden to flee the country on Sunday, they made a point to send a clear message to the Russian government as well.

“We expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged,” the White House National Security Council spokesperson said when news came around that the NSA whistleblower had landed in Russia.

They went as far as to push the subject and had a letter sent to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in which a senator calls the Snowden case an important test of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

It is not even known if Snowden is still in Russia since he didn’t get on his booked flight towards Havana, Cuba.

However, what is known is that he sent an asylum request to Ecuador and his request is currently being analyzed by the government and president.

Since that destination was mentioned, the American authorities didn’t waste any time in putting some pressure there as well.

“Mr. Snowden’s claim that his motivation is to support transparency, press freedom, the protection of individual rights and democracy is contradicted by the type of the potential defenders he chose – China, Russia and Ecuador,” a statement of the U.S. Embassy in Quito said.

“Working with countries like this, each one of which has been cited for not allowing freedom of speech and press – makes it clear that the real reason for his actions has been from the beginning to harm national security of the United States and not to promote Internet freedom and free expression,” the message continued.

In an ironic move, the U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with espionage after he revealed the spying programs run by the NSA. Now he is playing a cat and mouse game with the USA.