snowden's actions or motivations. earlier this month the president announced some changes, but he didn't halt the controversial phone data collection program the agency uses to track terror threats abroad and in the u.s. we cannot prevent terrorist attacks without some capability to penetrate digital communications. >> the obama administration is charged seven whistle blowers under the act, more than all previous presidents combined. and last summer, a military judge sentenced former army private chelsea manning to 35 years in prison, for stealing and sharing some 750,000 class fied diplomatic cables and field reports with wickky leaks. the legal case surrounding edward snowden is considerably americaier. in fact, only months before the disclosures began, president obama signed into law the whistle blower protection enhancement act. a law preventing employer retaliation or other actions against an employee who reveals corruption, or malfeasance within a government agency. that law excludes intelligence agencies like t

who was edward snowden? school. >> high school dropout. >> a 29-year-old kid just throwing open the safe. >> oftentimes when the media are attacked by politicians or their officials, journalists say, don't shoot the messengers. >> this was a gift to them by edward snowden and the guardian. and you could see before the snowden leaks, how much did they spend looking into what nsa was doing? they did almost nothing. so it's an age old mainstream media anger that somebody else is getting a story they should have gotten earlier. >> why shouldn't you mr. greenwald be charged with a crime? >> he adopted the language of a politician that was unhelpful. >> i think it's extraordinary that anybody who would call themselves a journalist, would milkily muse whether someone else. >> he was given materials he reported the materials he investigated the materials he put them out there. he is not aiding and abetting any kind of violation of the espionage act. >> what do you think of edward snowden? >> i think he's a traitor.

-- >> people in the country should be. >> clemency for snowden and you will get more snowdens. >> is president obama's character to reverse cause under pressure? >> you know, reverse course, i don't know that he has said absolutely, he hasn't closed the door, and you know, i think he has said that snowden broke the law and should come back and face charges. he can come back and face charges. >> what more do you want, you said he broke the law. >> and then you can have -- again, plea bargains go on every day in courtrooms. >> it is absolutely in president obama's political nature to change course as it is with most politicians and that's a big problem with our government right now as it was with the bush administration before. obama already changed course. he came out in california when this story was blowing up and basically said we're not doing this and then the leaks come out and he's going to put a panel together to investigate how deep it was. >> who has stuck his or her neck out in defending the behavior of the nsa in trying to get control of this. dianne feinstein. >> the new y

snowden's actions or motivations. where does edward snowden, from your perspective, fit into this current debate and these proposed reforms the president put forward today? >> you know, i think it leads to whether or not you think the president is genuinely concerned or not. i don't think we would be here, and i think there would be absolutely no reform, had there not been the releases by snowden. it's a separate question, what to do with him and whether he broke the law, which i think he did, and how he should be punished. the thing is, we wouldn't have any of this information and we wouldn't have any discussion. but what i think the president misunderstands is, he thinks when there is a problem and there may be a potential for abusive problems, i'll get some lawyers together that all work for him, and then they'll review it and put more safeguards on it. the nsa cannot oversee themselves. the administration or executive branch can't oversee themselves. that's why we separate these powers. but we separated the police

but cannot given the nature of plant whistleblower protection laws snowden wrote quote. one of the things that has not been widely reported by journalists is that whistleblower protection laws in the us do not protect contractors in the national security arena there are so many holes in the laws the protections they are ford are so weak and the process is for reporting they provide are so ineffective that they appear to be intended to discourage reporting of even the clearest wrongdoing if i have revealed what i knew about these unconstitutional but classified programs to congress they could have charged me with a felony finally he made a plea for international bodies to come up with global security standards that would force privacy rights but also protect countries against attacks stood wrote quote nobody should be hacking critical to life infrastructure like hospitals and power stations and it's fair to say that can be recognized in international law snowden says laws won't prevent dangerous hacking from taking place only science and technology can do that so for now

edward snowden is a whistleblower or traitor?don't like to get into the use of terminology, this or that or particularly inflammatory language. i think two things are clear. the first is that it has been overreaching on the part of our security agencies, technology outran reasoned judgment, in my view, and i think there will be corrections made. that won't be the first time in the history that has occurred and i think it will be a valuable thing. the second thing that is clear is that edward snowden broke the law, and so while there clearly have been benefits, i think there also has to be accountability and the phrase that they use and that you put out well should be clemency and plea bargain. those are two different things. >> i guess if you feel like the nsa has overstepped its bounds a little bit, you know, a lot of people who have that same viewpoint are now suggesting that maybe he should deserve some kind of leniency or something in exchange for his return back to the united states. you think that's reasonable? >> a plea ba

edward snowden could have the chance to stay in russia indefinitely a russian lawmaker says the n.s.a. whistleblower will be offered extended asylum on the story just ahead and former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife appeared in court today they stand accused of receiving gifts from a wealthy c.e.o. for political favors archie was that the hearing and brings you a special report coming up and in switzerland the syrian peace talks could end before they even begin today representatives of the government and the opposition fail to meet face to face we'll bring you all the details straight from geneva later in the show. it's friday january twenty fourth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm lynn neary david and you're watching r.t. america. we begin tonight with developing news that russia plans to extend its offer of asylum to former government contractor edward snowden beyond august which is when his one year temporary asylum was set to end this is all according to remarks by russian lawmaker alexey push who spoke today at the world economic forum during a panel discussion alexey

and a chat conducted by former government contractor edward snowden earlier today snowden gave a number of curious people out there the chance to have a conversation with him by offering them to ask some timely questions for an in-depth look at the q. and a i spoke earlier with our very own sam sachs i first asked him if snowden has responded to president barack obama's speech on n.s.a. reforms. this sort of he was asked kind of the frame of should president obama have been given given this speech so early especially since so many voices have been weighed in on this debate namely the privacy and civil liberties oversight board which released a report today basically saying that the n.s.a.'s bulk phone records collection program is both illegal and mostly useless in preventing terrorism in that context edward snowden was asked do you think it's a shame that obama gave his n.s.a. speech before his privacy and civil liberties oversight board reported that report . and which still didn't respond and he wanted to focus in on the bulk records program he said it's time to end bulk collection w

and a chat conducted by former government contractor edward snowden today snowden gave a number of curious people out there the chance to have a conversation with him by offering them to ask some timely questions our very own sam sachs has been charting those questions and answers from our newsroom to say i have it seems like most people are dying to know what snowden's response is to president barack obama's speech on an essay reforms that he gave last friday do we have that response yet very well there were some questions about the timing of president obama's speech there were some voices who hadn't weighed in on the n.s.a. debate namely the privacy and civil liberties oversight board which released a report today showing that the n.s.a.'s bulk phone records collection program is both illegal and useless to preventing terrorism stored and was asked particularly about that saying do you think it's a shame that obama gave his n.s.a. speech before his privacy and civil liberties oversight board reported that report so snowden responded to that by saying it's time to end bulk collection whic

doesn't add up. >> edward snowden told me he acted alone. and as far as i know, that is the view of the u.s. government. i'm trying to imagine how it would be plausible that the russians would help edward snowden and then let him fly to hong kong. >> reporter: and today, russian president vladimir putin didn't hesitate to embrace snowden, saying he's welcome to stay in russia as long as he wants, and even travel to the olympic games. >> translator: everybody is invited. mr. snowden is subject to the treatment of provisional asylum here in russia. he has a right to travel freely across the country. he has no special limitation. he can just buy a ticket and come here. >> reporter: there was no specific evidence offered by any of the lawmakers today that snowden cooperated with russia. now, this all comes amidst tense relations with the united states and russia, clashing with issues such as syria, gay rights and edward snowden. lester? >> kristen, thanks. >>> on the defensive about the timing of her accusations about governor chris christie's a

and a earlier learning what exactly snowden is thinking join me now to discuss snowden's live chat and all things going to say the david seaman hour my good friend david seaman thanks so much for coming on david. so david let's start with a question that's on the mind of a lot of americans and one by jake tapper today under what conditions would snowden agree to return to the u.s. noted responded with quote maybe when congress comes together to end the programs that p c l o b you just announced was a legal downward form the whistleblower protection act and we'll see a mechanism for all americans to get a fair trial question david if you were snowden would you ever step foot in this country again. not for the next couple of years probably lay low for a little bit now and watch the skies for drones it's really interesting to me that the media is so focused on snowden i mean i understand that he's doing a q. and a but i have a theory that the u.s. media with the exception of a few people like yourself things like twitter where we still get real news and so it's clogged up with promoted tw

snowden writes not all spying is bad. the biggest problem we face is the massive surveillance where governments are seizing billions and billions and billions of innocent communications every single day. @michaelhargrove1 asked was the privacy of your coworkers considered while stealing their login and password information? snowden replied i never stole any passwords, nor did i trick an army of coworkers. the leak sent off an international furor, especially on the u.s. spying on cell phones. today an independent government privacy board reported the mass collection snowden exposed is illegal. >> no, the program is not legal and should be ceased. >> reporter: and the panel said even in 12 terror cases cited by the government, the benefits of the phone surveillance were minimal. on "meet the press," the house chairman mike rogers suggested vladimir putin's russia may have helped snowden steal secrets. >> i believe there is a reason he ended up in the hands -- in the loving arms of an agent in moscow, number one. i don't thi

yes and james clapper today you had mentioned clapper and he brought up snowden today snowden was a was on that debate floor today some republicans as we've heard has gone as far to say that snowden works for russian intelligence clapper demanded that snowden return these documents that he said that he's that that he stole and it went as far as to call journalist that published these things their accomplices and i want to ask you because you're one of the few people that actually got to go over to russia and spent some time where snowden what's your response to these accusations calling him a spy. and all these developments we heard today and i was young enough to. i will i'm old enough to remember the mccarthy hearings ok when charges like this for flying about with no substantive basis and we know what happened then now for the head of the house intelligence committee mike rogers who himself is a failed f.b.i. agent you know he was so eased out before you could invest and we don't know the whole story about that but the f.b.i. covers up for these things very well for him to come o

snowden made the leak. before this, the washington post was not doing that much aggressive work on what the nsa was doing in terms of mastic you striving. media hask that the not been up to snuff on the whole issue. it would have been if the bush administration was in power. host: one must call in for you. gavin is waiting on the lines for republicans. caller: hi, james. thank you for coming on. paint a is, i want to scenario and get your comment. is there any chance that you that ourk -- think created these terrorists and radicals? guest: i think that all the studies that have come out agree with that. every time you have a drone attack, you're killing scores. hundreds of thousands of innocent people. they have been killed in these raids. all of the studies say that every time you kill a relative, the relative has other relatives. they have children and parents and aunts and uncles. you are helping radicalize people who would not necessarily have been radical in the first lace. it has not accomplished anyt

the snowden regulations and then -- the snowden revelations themselves budget included a lot more budget numbers during it turned out a lot of the budget numbers were wrong. that actually tells you something about why you have got to be careful about some of these documents. there was one budget document we looked at that i think the post had written about fairly extensively. it indicated 231 offenses cyber -- 230 one offenses cyber attacks in 2011, was that it? >> the approaching -- to appropriation of 2013 >> right. came from. it turned out later on the document had been put together by a budget here who did not know much about what a cyber attack is like. we discovered most of those were not what people on this stage would call offenses cyber -- would call offenses cyber attacks. you have two layers of problems. one is the secrecy around the budgets themselves. the second is a definitional one that would enable us to understand how much is being spent in a lot of areas where even in the u.s. government, there is argument about how you would define it. >> i think it epitomizes a broad

and as a whistleblower edward snowden takes part in a live q. and a lot of people ask their burning questions to snowden including a question about his reaction to president obama's n.s.a. speech we'll take a look at his response just ahead and the capital of ukraine has seen countless clashes between protesters and riot police now a ten cease fire has been declared by opposition leaders negotiate with the government the latest from ukraine coming up and the syrian peace talks have just wrapped a day to win switzerland but with the two sides warring over assad's power in the country will the syrian government and rebels even be able to come to an agreement or bring you more from switzerland later in the show. it's thursday january twenty third five pm in washington d.c. and i know you're a david and you're watching our t.v. . and we begin today with breaking news with a special q. and a that was conducted by former government contractor edward snowden today stone and gave a number of curious people out there the chance to have a conversation wit

snowden did what he did.ew there was no way inside the system to make fellow citizens aware of what their government was doing to their privacy. >> ruth, it is true the obama administration has used the espionage act more to go after whistleblowers who leaked to journalists not just than any previous administration but more than all previous administrations combined. so the argument that ellsburg makes that it's a different environment than the '70s might be accurate, no? >> i think there has been an excessive use of the whistleblower -- excessive use of power against whistleblowers. i also think because i see the world -- glenn sees the world in black and white, i see it in gray terms which makes me apparently a complete tool of the establishment. i think that snowden has done a public service so when i look at this, i really balance the equities of how much he disclosed. i thought josh's point that you raised is a very good point. perhaps if he had just told us only about the metadata program, perhaps if he

snowden's vilification and give him incentive to return home.t to bring in our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin with presidential historian and reagan biographer. the times says snowden has done a great service to the country. do you disagree with that? >> i do disagree with that. look, i'm not going to pretend that this hasn't been a healthy conversation for the country, it has been. but edward snowden went about it the wrong way. he broke the law. dramatically. ex-traffic gently. g flagrantly broke the law. instead of doing the right thing, going to congress, going to the inspector general, he fled to china, hong kong, then russia. two countries where freedom of speech is nonexistent compared to the united states. and i don't think that's something that deserves celebration. i think it deserves prosecution. should there be a plea bargain, that's fine with me, i don't think he needs to spend decades in prison but when you break the law like this, you deserve to pay a price. >> craig you agree with the times and disagree with jeffrey. how do

why shouldn't snowden face charges?ormation and make a decision on his own how to publicize that info? >> well, i think that "the new york times" makes the case very powerfully, and i urge your viewers to go to "the new york times" and see it. i think it boils down to the following. the disclosure that is mr. snowden is responsible for vastly improved a much, much needed public debate, both in the united states and around the world. the claims that they caused damage are hugely overblown. he had no alternative but to do it in the way that he did, because the people who were responsible for oversight of these programs already knew about what he reported and hadn't done anything about it. and the law, under which he would be prosecuted if he were to return to the united states, would not allow him to make a public interest defense, would not allow him to say what i just said, that these disclosures were valuable, they didn't cause harm. in fact, they revealed programs that will be found unconstitutional by open courts. th

snowden had been charged with three felonies. if in fact he believes that what he did was right, then like every american citizen, we can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer, and make his case. >> reporter: the embare are asments for the obama administration continued. in october a german newspaper reported that snowden documents appeared to kate that u.s. intelligence agencies had been listening to cell phone calls of the german channel lor. and then the "washington post" reported that the nsa tapped into the main communication centers for yahoo and google. the story underscored the ability to spy on tech powerhouses without their knowledge. snowden told the "washington post" he had already won at the end of the year. >>> one of the things that administration officials delve in hoping is that perhaps they could strike some sort of deal that if he would stop leaking documents he could get some sort of break. the president has denied that. but it gets to the fear that the president and his aids are trying to per am in

snowden enabled us to do. >> maybe you would sign up for the lawsuit. >> edward snowden is in exile now. knowing him well and knowing the things he knows and maybe haven't been released yet, would you suggest he come back to face accuser or so stay where he is because who knows what would happen if he were to come back is this. >> here is the problem. if you are a whistleblower as he considers himself to be and other people do, too. you would want to come back if you could go into court and say, i disclose ed this classified information because i believe it revealed wrongdoing on the part of the u.s. government and law breaking. i was justified as a whistle blower in doing that. the way the justice department created the law is if you are charged with violations you are not permitted to argue that you were justified in exposing the information because it revealed serious law breaking on the part of the government. it is not a fair fight. you are barred from going in making that defense. if he thought he could get a fair trial, that the justice system would fairly treat him and test that

leaker edward snowden he's still in the and russia what are the chances they'll return to the u.s. this year and what does he mean when he says his mission is complete i'll talk with snowden scheme legal advisor ben wiser of the a.c.l.u. on today's politicking. with ben wise and he's director of the a.c.l.u. speech privacy and technology project he's been the key adviser to the n.s.a. leaker edward snowden ben what's his current state of mind later we'll have a debate about all of this too what's the current state of mind of mr snowden oh you know his morale is pretty good. he is so grateful for the support that he's received recently from some of the world's leading newspapers including the new york times that called for him to be treated leniently to be given clemency but even more than that he's grateful for the global debate at his disclosures have set off and that open courts are reviewing the programs that he revealed and now congress is considering historic legislation even the president's own advisers are telling him that the n.s.a. has gotten out of control and needs to be

snowden was a patriot. mr. snowden has been charged with three felonies. what he did was right, then, like every american citizen, he can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer, and make his case. >> and to discuss what is next in the snowden saga, i want to bring in michael coen with the century foundation and columnist for the guardian, mirrian elder, perry bacon jr. still here, spencer ackerman is here as well. spencer, i'll start with you. i think we can all acknowledge when it comes to the revelations about domestic surveillance that have gotten so much attention this year that have caused so much debate, we wouldn't know anything about that if it wasn't for edward snowden. make a strong case there was a valuable service provided by that. at the same time, he released the documents that he released got into international -- secrets about international spying. that had nothing to do with domestic surveillance. some people make the case had no business being out there in public at all. he went to a country, russia, with a horrible record on hu

edward snowden shouldn't get clemency.ldn't because he went into a job intending to steal secrets. he promised, he signed a contract to keep those secrets. instead he stole them. he revealed them. after he did that or before he did that, he left the country instead of like i said sticking around to face the music. unlike, for example, daniel elsburg who allowed himself to be subjected to prosecution. while i think "the new york times" has been right, there's been some value in the public discussion and the revelations. that we will grant him clemency. wouldn't just be ridiculous to award snowden from being a fugitive from justice. it would encourage every other who thinks about spilling government -- >> that was the first reaction i had. what kind of a precedent do we set? now you're empowering everything who works in the intelligence field, the military, industrial complex. whatever you'd like to call it. if they perceive it as a constitutional violation, they can step forward, put everything on line. what of that risk? >

whistleblower edward snowden. earlier this morning and marie slaughter used to work as the state department's director of policy planning said on twitter that she agrees with the new york times. slaughter was of course referencing a new york times editorial board opinion piece published on wednesday that called on the obama administration to either pardon snowden or offer him a plea bargain at a tauriel argued that because of the enormous value of the information he has revealed in the abuses he has exposed mr snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile fear and flight it is time for the united states to offer mr snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home that's an editorial also said that in respect in retrospect mr snowden was clearly justified in believing that the only way to blow the whistle on this kind of intelligence gathering was to expose it to the public and let the resulting fear or do the work is superiors would not. a similar editorial published in

and that's a whistleblower edward snowden reportedly. thank you for joining us. protesters in kiev to refrain from violence over the city's. overnight. in the ukrainian capital. looking independence square where the speakers are continuing to deliver their rhetoric from the stage just as you might be able to hear that over the top of. me talking now we have seen a a distinct decrease in the amount of people on the streets on thursday compared to wednesday now that's because wednesday was a public holiday it allowed more people to come out but what those people have left that were here yesterday were here on wednesday well they've left more barricades better built barricades and certainly far more secure barricades about two hundred meters away just over to my left is where that that main flashpoint is going on in front of the dynamics' stadium between rioters and riot police where they're separated by what is literally a wall of fire and i was out in that last night and having a look around about what was what was going on there and it's made it look like somethi

and while that would snowden remains. deeply unpopular with u.s. officials members of the public consider him a hero and are seeking ways to express their gratitude for exposing american mass surveillance and the whistleblower has been nominated for an honorary position of rector at glasgow university and we caught up with one of the students who spearheaded the bid. the reason we chose edward snowden is because we know that he is a hero here's a brave man who risked a lot of things to let us the people know the extent of us media surveillance and intrusion into our private lives and we just want to show him that we appreciate what he's done and it is a clear message sent out to those who are monitoring us that we will not stand for this and that we do not this we do not accept this kind of criminality it would be more symbolic than anything because he will be able to actually physically come to class go it will choose a representative. for him in situations where he cannot personally attend but his duties will be to hold the title of the rector of

we have the dialogue about snowden unfolding.e have the dialogue about syria unfolding and not well. and russia playing an integral role in supporting the regime in syria at a time when america is pushing back on it. comes at a time when they couldn't be less welcome for all parties. >> let me touch on that syria point you brought up. john kerry said something interesting about that, which says we cannot have assad continue in power. >> bashar assad will not be part of that transition government. there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. >> i understand what the secretary of state is saying. bashar assad has been horrible, beyond horrible, perhaps criminal in his behavior. but what if deposing him is not actually best for syria? we've seen several arab countries that are used to dictators, have been deposed and then the country falls into chaos. democracy doesn't just take hold easily in all the these sort of places. so

and a whistleblower as worries edward snowden is reportedly planning asking russia for personal protection after getting death threats. watching r.t. international coming to live from moscow with me marina joshie welcome to the program protesters and police in kiev have declared a truce which is expected to hold for the next five hours earlier the ukrainian opposition threatened to escalate street riots if the government refused to call early elections meanwhile the e.u. is entering the fray was ahead of the european commission voicing his concern and a phone call to president yanacocha are just peed all over reports from. well what we're seeing right now is a relatively peaceful scene and what's been the place where the most of the clashes the the most violent clashes have taken place here in kiev there's a cease fire be respected by by both the right police and the the writers themselves but in terms of the the international reaction to what's being going on here in ukraine we've been hearing that the e.u. president jose manuel barroso held a phone call with victory on a call which the u

who blows water is edward snowden is reportedly planning to ask russia for personal protection after receiving death threats of top stories. this is not international law from our studio center here in moscow where midnight and ten pm in ukraine where rioting has spread to the west of the country with protests breaking into ministration buildings and in the capital kiev the opposition and the government and they're expected to announce the results of their talks. is that. but we've seen is groups of demonstrators and rioters across ukraine trying to. occupy or demonstrate outside of government buildings now in the in the cities. and. we have seen the main. local administration buildings being occupied by demonstrators now i was looking online and on twitter of accounts of thousands of people involved also we've seen it on the local news here as well the scenes from then it's not just those two cities in the west of ukraine we're also hearing a fair of government offices being besieged all the at least the scenes of demonstrations so certainly the unrest in ukraine not limited to to t

snowden escaped to hong kong and then later settled in russia. snowden told the "new yorker" magazine that the idea that he had help with the theft is absurd. well, we put the question to one of the people who know the most about the case: mike morell. until last year. he was deputy director of the c.i.a. he also served on the president's task force on surveillance. morell is now a senior security contributor for cbs news. >> there is no evidence of that, scott. my own thinking is that what edward snowden did was steal the material on his own, get out of the country on his own. my questions about his work with chinese and russian intelligence begin once he arrives in hong kong and then when he moved on to moscow. >> pelleyc: what do we know about what happened in hong kong? >> well, there were some -- a couple of incidents in hong kong that i really can't get into, but those incidents really raised some questions about whether or not he had contact with russian intelligence. >> pelley: does u.s. intelligence have a good appraisal today of what sn

snowden is expected to answer questions during a live chat this afternoon on a website free snowden. you can submit questions via twitter using #asksnowden. >> marlie hall in new york. thanks a lot, marlie. >>> well, opposition leaders in ukraine issued an ultimatum. they want the president to call early elections within 24 hours or face more protests. the demand comes amid escalating violence in the capital. at least two protesters have died since the demonstrations began in november. that's when ukraine's president sided with russia and rejected an economic deal with the european union. >>> at the syrian peace talks in switzerland, the two warring factions are scheduled to meet separately with the u.n. negotiator. it's still unclear if the two sides are willing to meet tomorrow when serious negotiations are to begin. at the opening session yesterday they called on president assad to step down. the president said that's not happening. >>> president obama has created a task force to respond to sexual assault on american college campuses. the white house released a report yesterday th

for both journalists and sources do you think that snowden's involvement with this organization this foundation will hurt his chances of earning clemency in the u.s. in the future i don't think it will have an effect one way or the other i'm sure the detractors will try to find some reason to fault him for being on the board of this fine organization but i don't think it really will affect it when way or the other not once that he leaks continue to come out americans are growing increasingly supportive of edward snowden what do you think that is well i think it's a number of factors we have had an avalanche of wonderful supportive news including you know an opinion by a federal judge that found the main program likely unconstitutional including tech giants dressing down the white house and saying that he should be pardoned including the editorial boards of the new york times and guardian saying that he should receive and amnesty or a pardon and i think all of that does shape public opinion in a huge kind of way in all along this case has been about one percent legal and ninety nine p

whistleblower edward snowden is reportedly asking russian authorities for more protection and mounting death threats. he want unity to national coming to you live from moscow with me marina welcome now ukraine opposition from member tally could go has negotiated a temporary truce with authorities until eight pm local time it's reported the break will be used for further talks with the country's leadership meanwhile riot police have now put out the burning barricades in the center of kiev that remain a blaze over night well let's now take a look here at exactly where the ongoing turmoil has been taking place this as you can see on the map is european square a forefront of the unrest and this is where the tires were satellite and that's where our correspondent peter oliver was earlier and some of the fiercest clashes have taken place round nearby government buildings and specifically at the. street here and where that's where a security operation pushed out some of the more radical protesters the deaths of two of them have been confirmed both reportedly out of bullet wounds forty however

snowden released top secret u.s. documents. snowden is holding a live chat and q and a on his site to offer his perspective on reforms. here is the website, noon pacific, the website www.freesnowden.is. snowden is still viewed with mixed perspectives, some calling him a national hero, exposing the programs that had every american in the cross hairs. others say he put american troops in danger and given aid to terrorists. >> firm position that he wouth to return to the united states and face the charges against him. >> one of his allegations was that the nsa's mass surveillance program had no public or governmental oversight. the president while maintaining the they, did acknowledge the important of those to question our government. >> during the course of review i often reminded myself i would not be where i am were it not for those like dr. king who were spied upon by their own government. >> also today just an hour prior to snowden's web cast will be an announcement about sweeping changes being made on how the nsa

how was the blower's worries and words snowden is reportedly planning to ask to russia for personal protection after getting death threats. this is our senior national coming to you live from moscow with me marina welcome to the program and the e.u. is entering the fray in ukraine it was ahead of the european parliament saying the country's president should call an early election protesters and police in kiev have declared a truce which is expected to hold for the next three hours are just peed all over is there gauging the mood on the streets and the following international reaction. in terms of what we're seeing from pressure and people taking speaking about what's going on here in ukraine from the outside well we have seen some movement with regards to the european union martin scholtz the head of the e.u. parliament has said that ukraine must call snap elections now that came on the back of the of a phone call between the president of ukraine. the president of the european union but also which was to put also expressed his deep concern about the situation there was unfolding here in ukrain

i mean, this is a -- there's a lot of sympathy for snowden and hatred for snowden.ed different ways. >> i think that's preposterous. he is the one who fled. he left at the point at which he announced what he had done. he took himself out of the country. he exiled himself. he then went to russia. he is now regaling world with interviews and other kinds of public relations things. as far as i can tell, i haven't seen any evidence he's incarcerated. and they keep saying we're going to give him asylum as long as he wants. this is not a person who's being punished. he has the spotlight and he's using it. >> is there any reason for him to come back to the u.s. and think that "a," he can get a fair trial or that there's the potential for a reduced sentence that makes sense? >> well, i think he can certainly get a fair trial. the question is, is he going to get a trial in which he gets convicted? there's a high likelihood he will. if he decides he wants to come back and wants to tell the u.s. government everything he stole, which is important, he might be able to bargain fo