Is Putin Making Concessions to One-Up the United States?

Edward Snowden is stirring U.S.-Russian relations. The U.S. government expressed its dissatisfaction to Russia, but the Russian government has maintained a tough stance. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement on [June] 25, saying Russian Intelligence Services have had no contact with Snowden and that he wanted Snowden to leave Russia immediately.

From the statement, we could tell that Putin still did not want the Snowden incident to make a big impact on U.S.-Russian relations. However, conceding to the United States was definitely not Putin’s diplomatic style. Putin later made it clear that he refused to return Snowden to the United States.

Russia State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov even said that America’s threats would only bring Russia and China closer.

Although Putin showed a tough stance to the United States, he hoped Snowden would leave Russia as soon as possible. Some think Putin is making concessions in order to gain advantages in the competition with the United States.

Russia first showed it had nothing to do with the Snowden scandal, which put itself in an advantageous position. Geographically, Snowden is in Moscow, which determines Russia’s control over the current situation. The United States cannot arrest anyone in the transit zone of an airport in Moscow. Legally, Snowden is not in Russian territory, which gives the U.S. no legal basis for accusing Russia.

In other words, Russia is in the dominant position regarding the Snowden incident. Russia could take one step in to “attack” — cooperate with Snowden extensively at any time — or take one step back to defend — expel Snowden, leaving the U.S. nothing to say.

This might be the reason why Russia changed its high-profile diplomatic style into a calm one since Snowden’s arrival at Moscow.

It is difficult to predict at this point where Snowden will eventually end up. But he has become an important bargaining chip for the “anti-U.S.” campaign as Russia wrestles with the U.S. Snowden’s fate may already be beyond his control.