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STORY: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with Russia's Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Tuesday after he said earlier that Caracas had not yet received an official request for political asylum from former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and would decide on the matter only when it did.
Maduro voiced sympathy for Snowden - who divulged details of Washington's spy program - and described him as a champion of human rights. That suggested Venezuela may help the 30-year-old, who is stranded in Moscow after flying there from Hong Kong on June 23, to find a safe harbor.
Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the United States and is believed to be staying in a transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, has had his U.S. passport revoked and countries around the world are under U.S. pressure to deny him asylum.
