[An Nahar] The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said Tuesday that runaway U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela as was claimed by a top Russian politician in a Twitter posting that later deleted.Pro-Kremlin politician Alexei Pushkov sparked confusion when he tweeted Tuesday that Snowden had agreed to an offer from Caracas. He deleted the posting after about 30 minutes.
"Edward Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela. The Russian politician concerned has deleted the tweet," WikiLeaks said on its Twitter account.
Pushkov does not officially speak for the Russian government but has close Kremlin connections and is believed to relay views similar to those of President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...