Snowden's father to visit Russia this month

Lon Snowden, the father of former CIA employee Edward Snowden, has accepted the invitation to visit Russia and will make the trip this month," representative of Lon Snowden's lawyer Mattie Fein told Itar-Tass. Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Russian Public Chamber, told journalists earlier on Tuesday that he had sent the invitation to Edward Snowden’s father, his friends and a lawyer to visit Russia. Earlier, Lon Snowden said that he intended to visit Russia to see his son. He said that he was proud of his son and he would certainly go to Russia. He added that he would do that legitimately and in appropriate circumstances. In his last week interview with the Washington Post, Lon Snowden said how the FBI had fruitlessly tried to arrange his trip to Moscow so that he could persuade his son to return home. Lon Snowden also said that he did not want to be an instrument of emotional impact on his son in the hands of the U.S. security services. Edward Snowden who leaked information on the U.S. global surveillance programs in the media received temporary asylum in Russia last Thursday. Prior to that, he had spent more than a month at Sheremetyevo airport’s transit zone. The United States is accusing Snowden of disclosing secret information on the U.S. National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance programs. Snowden is charged with two violations of the 1917 U.S Espionage Act: unsanctioned disclosure of secrets linked to national defense and intentional hand-over of U.S. surveillance data to persons who were not entitled to receive that kind of information. Besides, Snowden is also charged with stealing the U.S. government property. He is facing up to 10 years in prison on each count.