From Reuters:
Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden slipped quietly out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday after securing temporary asylum in Russia, ending more than a month in limbo in the transit area.
A Russian lawyer who has been assisting Snowden said the American, who is wanted in the United States for leaking details of secret government surveillance programs, had gone to a safe location which would remain secret.
After 39 days avoiding hordes of reporters desperate for a glimpse of him, Snowden managed to give them the slip again, leaving the airport in a taxi without being spotted.
Snowden's case has caused new strains in relations between Russia and the United States, which wants him extradited to face espionage charges. But a Kremlin official said ties would not suffer from what he called a "relatively insignificant" case.
Grainy images on Russian television showed Snowden's new document, which is similar to a Russian passport, and revealed that he had been granted asylum for a year from July 31.
"He is the most wanted man on planet Earth. What do you think he is going to do? He has to think about his personal security. I cannot tell you where he is going," his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told Reuters.
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