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Russian supporters of US National Security Agency (NSA) fugitive leaker Edward Snowden rally in Moscow on July 12, 2013/AFP

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Putin accuses US of ‘trapping’ Snowden in Russia

Putin is set to host US President Barack Obama for a bilateral summit in Moscow followed by the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg in early September.

Putin said Russia had made its position clear to Snowden.

“We have certain ties with the United States. We do not want you through your activity to damage our ties with the States.”

Snowden had vowed to continue his activism, said Putin.

“We said: ‘That will be without us, then. We have other battles to fight,’” he said with a smile.

In a sign that Moscow may seriously consider an application from him, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, has said that Snowden could apply for either temporary asylum or political asylum.

Requests for political asylum are reviewed by the Kremlin and granted by the president.

Observers have noted that Snowden’s Friday meeting did not include some figures likely to upset Putin, such as Russia’s best-known rights campaigners or organisations that deal with refugees.

Among those who did attend was Vyacheslav Nikonov, a lawmaker from the ruling party United Russia, who would probably not have been known to Snowden before his arrival in Russia.

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Washington has reacted sharply to the possibility that Moscow might offer Snowden a safe haven and accused it of providing him with a “propaganda platform”.

In Latin American meanwhile, Spain’s ambassador to Bolivia said Madrid had apologised for an incident earlier this month, when it closed its airspace to a plane carrying President Evo Morales.

Morales was flying back from Moscow at the time and was forced to stop overnight in Vienna after Spain, France, Italy and Portugal all acted following rumours that Snowden was on board.

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