Lawyer : Snowden expects to leave airport soon

Edward Snowden expects his asylum plea to be formally received by Moscow soon, letting the U.S. secrets leaker leave the airport for a residence, a lawyer said. "He's planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job," Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, who has been helping Snowden, told state-funded Russian TV network RT. Snowden, holed up in Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport transit zone since June 23, when he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong, filed for temporary asylum in Russia July 16. His application has not been yet formally accepted by Russian immigration officials, Kucherena told the TV network. "According to the existing practice, it may take five, seven or eight days" for the application to be formally received, he said. "I'm calling them on a daily basis. They tell me that they're about to finish the formalization." When that happens, Snowden would receive a certificate confirming his asylum application is being reviewed, which would then let him leave the airport, the lawyer said. "There are no travel restrictions," Kucherena said. "Therefore, receiving the paper will give him an opportunity to leave the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport and choose a place of residence -- rent a hotel or a flat." Snowden will be allowed to "live in any place within the Russian Federation," Kucherena said. Consideration of Snowden's plea would then take up to three months, Kucherena said. If his request is approved, Snowden will receive a certificate that would "guarantee him the same rights and freedoms possessed by the citizens of the Russian Federation" for a year, Kucherena said. Snowden would possibly be allowed to renew his status for another year. If his request is denied, Snowden would go to court and appeal the Russian Federal Migration Service decision, Kucherena said. The Obama administration has been pressing Russia to detain Snowden and return him to Washington. Snowden, who faces criminal espionage charges for leaking classified information about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs, has accused Washington of violating international law by blocking him from traveling to Latin America, where three countries have expressed a willingness to take him.