WORLD_ SYRIA_ PUTIN: It was 'more difficult to grant Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be' for Assad

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PUTIN: It was 'more difficult to grant Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be' for Assad

Natasha Bertrand
Today at 1:19 AM

Photo: Daniel Biskup/BILD
Russian President Vladimir Putin

It would be less difficult for Russia to grant asylum to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad than it was to shelter former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with German newspaper BILD.

The Russian leader, who launched an air campaign in Syria on behalf of Assad last September, hinted that Russia could shelter the embattled Syrian president if presidential elections were held and Assad lost.

“It was surely more difficult to grant Mr. Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad,” Putin said, according to an English translation provided by the newspaper to Business Insider.

Snowden was granted asylum by Russia in June 2013 after leaking thousands of classified US documents to the press.

Indeed, Russia’s intervention in Syria has proved widely popular in Russia, where the incursion has been portrayed on state media as one success after another. A poll taken in October showed that roughly 70% of Russians supported the air campaign.

Putin said, however, that it was still “too early” to discuss the issue of sheltering Assad.

“First the Syrian population has to be able to vote, and then we will see if Assad would have to leave his country if he loses the election,” Putin, a staunch ally of Assad and his regime, told BILD.

“In any case, this is not a prerequisite,” Putin added. “Until then, Russia will fight ISIS and those anti-Assad rebels who cooperate with ISIS.”

READ MORE: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/putin-assad-asylum-russia-snowden-2016-1?r=US&IR=T

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