International Attorney McNabb: Snowden's Days in Russia are Numbered

Fugitive secrets-leaker Edward Snowden will soon wear out his welcome in Russia and need to flee to another country willing to accept him as a refuge, international attorney Douglas McNabb says.

"At some point, the president of Russia is going to grow tired of this," McNabb told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"Somebody is paying [his] hotel bill, paying the food … but there will come a time when the bill isn’t paid and they kick him out. It's going to come down to either Putin saying you’re out of here or one of these countries gives him a refugee travel document to leave."

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But the list of those nations that might welcome Snowden — who's wanted for treason in the U.S. for leaking classified information about National Security Agency' surveillance programs — is dwindling.

"Some of these countries have said flat out no … some have said you've got to be on our soil, and so it's narrowed down really at this point to nine countries … Bolivia and Venezuela," McNabb said.

He said there are two possible scenarios involving Russia.

One is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Snowden he can have asylum in Russia if he stops leaking information damaging to the United States.

The other is the possibility of swapping Snowden for a Russian criminal mastermind currently jailed in the U.S.

But McNabb doubts either will happen.

"[The Russians] very much want Viktor Bout, who was an alleged merchant of death arms dealer that was just convicted in Manhattan and give 20-something years," McNabb said.
"So absent of a swap, Putin saw a chance to get out from underneath it and said 'Hey, we'll give you asylum, however you've got to stop the leaking.'"

But Snowden is reportedly ready to spill further secrets about the U.S. to London's Guardian newspaper.