Edward Snowden.
Snowden hopes to find refuge in Latin America after leaking details of US government surveillance programmes, but has been unable to get there since arriving at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport from Hong Kong on June 23.
"He reached the conclusion that he needs to write an application for temporary asylum [in Russia], and his procedure has just been done," said Anatoly Kucherena on Tuesday. Kucherena is the lawyer who met Snowden on Friday with human rights activists.
Kucherena, who said he has been advising Snowden, did not make clear how the American had filed his application or whether it had already reached the Russian authorities.
Snowden, who is holed up in Sheremetyevo's transit area, said on Friday that he would seek refuge in Russia only until he is able to travel on to Latin America, where three countries have offered him political asylum.
He said he had to do this because the United States and its allies were preventing him reaching Latin America. The United States has revoked Snowden's passport and urged nations worldwide not to help him reach an asylum destination.
Kucherena said he expects a decision on Snowden's asylum request "soon". The process for seeking temporary asylum is different from that for political asylum, which Kucherena said would require a decree from President Vladimir Putin.
US 'trapped him on our territory'
On Monday, Putin said Snowden would leave Russia as soon as he is able to.
Putin also accused Washington of preventing the fugitive from leaving Russia after he arrived from Hong Kong. "He arrived on our territory uninvited, he did not fly to us," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying at the time.
"They themselves [Washington] scared off all the other countries, no one wants to take him, and therefore they essentially themselves trapped him on our territory," added the president, according to the agencies.
Putin also said on Monday that he saw signs that Snowden was shifting towards stopping "political activity" directed against the US.
Putin, who previously refused to hand Snowden over to the US authorities, said the fugitive's situation remained unresolved after Washington had blocked his further movements.
Asked on an island in the Gulf of Finland about Snowden's future, Putin said: "How do I know? It's his life, his fate."
Putin has stated Snowden should stop activity harmful to the US if he wanted refuge in Russia, and said he saw signs that the former contractor with the National Security Agency was moving in this direction. – Reuters