Spy who went into the cold

Edward Snowden.
Edward Snowden.
Russia's involvement in the Edward Snowden whistleblower scandal has added yet another level of intrigue - and heightened the political tension - in the unfolding drama.

Former CIA employee and United States National Security Agency contractor Mr Snowden has been on the run and in hiding since revealing last month details of comprehensive secret spying on telecommunications and internet users by the US Government.

Details of the agency's surveillance programme - codenamed Prism - showed US security services had monitored information from internet companies Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and Facebook, Skype, YouTube and others, and had been made possible by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President George W. Bush and renewed under President Barack Obama in December 2012.

The revelations caused global disquiet and raised questions about personal liberties in the supposed ''land of the free'', but the US Government has said such surveillance has been vital in thwarting numerous terrorist plots.

There are now also claims that US intelligence services have bugged key EU offices, with subsequent consternation expressed in Germany, France and by the president of the European Parliament.

Mr Snowden is facing charges of espionage in the US. He initially fled to Hong Kong, has requested asylum in Ecuador, and ''the spy who went into the cold'' has been living in Moscow's international airport for the past week.

The situation mirrors the political and international standoff at Ecuador's embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange has been holed up for a year to avoid Swedish and US authorities, who want him respectively on sex charges and for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

That stoush initially threatened relations between Britain and Ecuador, and the Snowden saga has put pressure on relations between the US and Ecuador, with the US threatening the tiny South American country with an end to preferential access for its goods to the US.

After the claims of bugging, the US may well also find its relationships with many in the EU are also under strain.

Ecuador President Rafael Correa said Ecuador's ambassador to Russia met Mr Snowden at the airport at the beginning of last week, but has denied giving Mr Snowden any safe passage travel document or refugee papers and says no asylum request can processed until he is in Ecuadorian territory.

The case has also put a chill on relations between Russia and the US, at a time when any deterioration could do considerable harm in other areas - notably progress on intervention in the conflict in Syria, given their considerable foreign policy differences in that area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will not extradite Mr Snowden as Russia has no extradition treaty with the US, but has also said accusations Russia was helping the fugitive were ''ravings and rubbish'' and ''the sooner [Mr Snowden] chooses his final destination, the better it would be for us and for himself''. He maintains Mr Snowden is in the transit area of the airport and therefore not officially on Russian soil.

Many people regard Mr Assange and Mr Snowden as heroes and ''freedom'' fighters and support their claims for asylum, particularly as the trial of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking the documents to WikiLeaks, continues and its outcome is feared. But there are those who argue such people must be held accountable for divulging state secrets, damaging national security and potentially endangering lives.

While the twisting plot turns are beginning to resemble something out of a John le Carre novel, and certainly have an avid following worldwide, the potential for developments to escalate is chilling - and the last thing the world needs is anything resembling a return to Cold War days.

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