Snowden 'to build a life in Russia'

Edward Snowden will release no new information but instead look to build a life in Russia, his lawyer said Thursday after he was granted a year-long asylum by Moscow , angering the United States and putting in doubt a planned summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.

Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who is assisting Snowden, said the 30-year-old has found shelter in a private home of American expatriates after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport following more than five weeks in limbo.

The United States wanted Russia to send Snowden home to face criminal charges  - including espionage - for his June disclosures of secret U.S. internet and telephone surveillance programs.

The former consultant for the National Security Agency (NSA) pledged not to publish more information that could harm the United States, a condition for asylum President Putin said he would have to agree to before receiving safe harbor.

But Snowden's promise does not extend to the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group to which he has already handed over much of his material, Kucherena said. He has also said that Snowden does not believe his earlier leaks had done harm to the United States. 

"Edward assured me that he is not planning to publish any documents that blacken the American government," Kucherena said. "But before that he said... when he was in Hong Kong he gave a part of that material to journalists, so that material, of course, he can't take back."

Snowden hopes to avoid the same fate as Bradley Manning, the Army soldier convicted Tuesday on criminal charges including espionage and theft related to releasing classified data through WikiLeaks.

Kucherena said Snowden wanted to rent a flat and find work in Russia, and has no immediate plans to leave.

"Snowden is an expert, a very high-level expert and I am receiving letters from companies and citizens who would eagerly give him a job. He will not have any problems," he said. 

"He needs to work. He is not a rich man, and the money that he had, he has, of course, spent on food. Of course, he understands that he has to work and he has to keep on living."

Snowden was already offered a job by Russia's top social-networking site on Thursday, hours after the former intelligence contractor received asylum in Russia.

Russia’s refusal to send Snowden home to face trial aggravated relations with the United States that were already strained by Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country's bloody civil war and a host of other issues.

The White House signaled Thursday that President Obama may boycott a September summit with President Putin in Moscow.

"We see this as an unfortunate development and we are extremely disappointed by it," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in Washington. "We are evaluating the utility of a summit, in light of this and other issues, but I have no announcement today on that."

Other high-level U.S.-Russian talks were also put in doubt.

Discussions planned for next week between Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and their Russian counterparts are now "up in the air," according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Prominent U.S. lawmakers - Republicans and Democrats - condemned Russia's action and urged Obama to take stern retaliatory steps beyond the issue of the September summit.

It is not clear whether Obama might also consider a boycott of the G20 summit in Russia in September, immediately after the planned summit with Putin, or of the Winter Olympics, which Russia will host in the city of Sochi next February.

"Russia has stabbed us in the back, and each day that Mr. Snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a close Obama ally who urged the president to recommend moving the summit of G20 leaders out of Russia.

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), already sharp critics of Putin, called Russia's action a disgrace and a deliberate effort to embarrass the United States. They said the United States should retaliate by pushing for completion of all missile-defense programs in Europe and moving for another expansion of NATO to include Russian neighbor Georgia.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov played down concerns about the impact on relations with the United States.

"Our president has ... expressed hope many times that this will not affect the character of our relations," he said.

Putin has said he wants to improve relations with the United States amid differences over the Syrian civil war, his treatment of political opponents and foreign-funded non-governmental organizations. He would have risked looking weak if he had handed Snowden over to U.S. authorities.

Al Jazeera and wire services