Putin says Snowden should stop harming 'our American partners'

Putin says Snowden should stop harming 'our American partners'

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin made starkly clear on Monday that Edward Snowden was not welcome in Russia, and voiced solidarity with the United States over the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contactor.

However, speaking eight days after Snowden arrived at a Moscow airport where he is believed to remain, Putin repeated that Russia had no intention of handing the American over to the United States, which wants him on espionage charges.

For the second time in a week, he said Russian intelligence agencies were not working with Snowden and urged him to leave as soon as possible. "If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means," Putin said.

"If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips," Putin told reporters after a gas exporters' conference in Moscow.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-security-snowden-putin-idUSBRE9600QP20130701