Snowden's trans-continental attempt to evade capture by US authorities continued to frustrate Washington on Tuesday. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, repeated his call for Moscow to turn Snowden over.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia, Kerry said: "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is 'a fugitive' from justice.' "
But Lavrov made it clear that Russia did not intend to get involved. "I would like to say right away that we have no relation to either Mr Snowden or to his relationship with American justice or to his movements around the world," Lavrov said.
"He chose his route on his own, and we found out about it, as most here did, from mass media," he said during a joint press conference with Algeria's foreign minister. "He did not cross the Russian border."
◼ Putin confirms Snowden in Moscow airport but denies extradition: says Snowden is in Moscow airport transit zone and has committed no crime in Russia - Tom McCarthy/guardian.co.uk
Did the Obama administration klutz up the play to nab Snowden before he left Hong Kong?
The blogger Marcy Wheeler argues that the aggressive pursuit of Snowden by the White House may have made the whole problem of US state secrets ending up in the wrong hands worse:
Q: Did Obama Admin give thought to ways NOT to make it more likely Snowden would rely on adversaries for security?
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) June 24, 2013
◼ Snort! ‘Best Rickroll ever?’ Snowden not on flight to Cuba; Journos live-tweet empty seat [pics] - Twitchy
Journalists from around world embark on Moscow-Havana flight to "photograph an empty seat" via @caosnews pic.twitter.com/TL6BGR3NmF #Snowden
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) June 24, 2013
◼ [WATCH] “Daily Show’s” John Oliver poke fun at confusion over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s whereabouts