Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on Russia’s decision to grant hacker Edward Snowden temporary asylum. Senator Cardin supports the U.S. request to have Snowden, a Maryland resident, extradited to stand trial.

“I am deeply troubled by Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to Edward Snowden. Had a Russian citizen hacked into computers to gain sensitive national security information, there is no question that they would be in prison or worse. Edward Snowden broke the law, and as such, Russia should have facilitated his return to the United States to stand trial. “