Snowden lands tech support job in Russia

Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has found a job working for a website in Russia, where he was granted asylum after fleeing the United States, a Russian lawyer who is helping him said on Thursday

"Edward starts work in November," lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said. "He will provide support for a large Russian site," he said, adding that he would not name the site âfor security reasons'. Snowden (30), a former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed secret US Internet telephone surveillance programmes, fled to Hong Kong and then to Russia in June.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden will start working for a large website in Moscow. File pic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected US pleas to send Snowden home to face charges including espionage, and the temporary asylum he was granted in early August can be extended annually.

Snowden's location in Russia has not been disclosed and since July he has appeared only in a handful of photographs and video clips from a meeting this month with visiting former US national security officials who support his cause. Putin, a former KGB spy, said repeatedly that Russia would only shelter Snowden if he stopped harming the US.u00a0