Russia gives Snowden asylum, Obama-Putin summit in doubt

Russia gives Snowden asylum, Obama-Putin summit in doubt

Thu Aug 1, 2013 11:46PM EDTBy Timothy Heritage and Steve HollandMOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia rejected U.S. pleas and granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum on Thursday, letting the former spy agency contractor slip out of a Moscow airport after more than five weeks in limbo while angering the United States and putting in doubt a planned summit between the two nations' presidents.The United States wanted Russia to send Snowden home to face criminal charges including espionage for disclosing in June secret American internet and telephone surveillance programs. The White House signaled that President Barack Obama may boycott a September summit with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.