Edward Snowden, the U.S. whistleblower who leaked over 1.7 million highly classified U.S. documents, is in Moscow, Russia for asylum because Russian spies "tricked" him into asking the country for asylum.
Ex-KGB Major Boris Karpichkov said that Moscow had Snowden in their radar as far back as 2007, believing that he would be defecting. However, spies from the SVR intelligence service of Russia did not contact him until last year, when Snowden escaped to Hong Kong with the classified documents in tow on May 20, 2013.
After identifying himself to the world on June 9, 2013, the spies then tricked Snowden into seeking asylum in Russia, telling him that the country was his best choice. Snowden's transfer to Russia provoked the U.S. into the cancellation of his passport to restrict his movements on June 23, 2013, stranding Snowden in Moscow.
"It was a trick and he fell for it," said Karpichkov, who reached his former rank of Major as a part of the KGB's Second Directorate as a specialist in counterintelligence.
"Now the Russians are extracting all the intelligence he possesses," he added. Karpichkov also believes that the Kremlin will keep Snowden with them for three years, until the former CIA agent has no more secrets to reveal.
Karpichkov says that Snowden lives in a heavily alarmed and protected flat in the suburbs of Moscow, and that he meets with the FSB twice weekly over a hearty meal.
Snowden's revelations of the actions of U.S. spy agencies in harvesting data from international phone calls and e-mails, including those of leaders of foreign countries, have caused a massive nightmare for the U.S. and British governments.
Karpichkov, however, says that Russia is not interested in the collected data. Rather, he believes that what his former colleagues want to know is how the U.S.A. and Britain add and remove encryption on classified information.
"Codebreakers are the top targets of every secret service," he noted.
Robert Baer, a former CIA official, said that the agency was doing an assessment of the damage that Snowden caused, to determine what information he has already given the Russians.
"They are looking at the possibility that information was passed on. It's a damage assessment - clearly what he saw in Geneva has to be looked at and it has to be assumed that he passed it on to Russia," Baer said.
"You'd be seeing the intelligence briefings that Geneva would get. You'd also be getting NSA reports. That's the sort of regular stuff he'd be getting across his desk," Baer added.
Snowden would also have had access to British intelligence, Baer said.
