American Whistleblower Edward Snowden is in Russia.. kind of.  President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Snowden is in the pre-immigration international transit area of the airport, and Putin’s not going to honor US requests to send him back.

This is not unprecedented.  There have been cases of people who get off the plane but for whatever reason refuse to proceed to immigration.  The most famous was Iranian exile Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived to 18 years in the lounge of Terminal One of Charles de Gaulle Airport, inspiring a so-so Tom Hanks – Steven Spielberg movie.

Putin says Snowden has broken no Russian laws, but seemed to rescind that earlier offer of asylum.

“Mr. Snowden is a free man,” Putin said, “and the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it will be both for us and for him.”

The Russian president also says Moscow has no reason to extradite Snowden, who is believed to be carrying an intelligence treasure trove of laptop computers and thumb drives.

“We can extradite foreign nationals only to those countries with which we have relevant international agreements on the extradition of criminals.  We have no such agreement with the United States.”