Snowden set to decide on asylumj US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, a lawyer who has been helping him says. Anatoly Kucherena, a prominent pro-Kremlin lawyer who participated in the fugitive's dramatic meeting with rights activists at a Moscow airport last week, says an application has been filed with Russian authorities through the Federal Migration Service. Snowden, wanted by the United States for revealing sensational details of its vast spying operations, flew into Russia from Hong Kong on June 23 and has since been marooned in the transit zone of the capital's Sheremetyevo airport. The lawyer said he had been helping the world's most famous fugitive navigate through the complexities of the Russian legislation. He has explained the difference between the status of refugee, political asylum and temporary asylum to Snowden. "Before our consultations he did not have the understanding of those issues," Mr Kucherena said. Breaking silence for the first time since he arrived, Snowden who has essentially become stateless after Washington revoked his passport, met with a handful of rights activists and lawyers at the airport on Friday. At the meeting, he said he would file for asylum in Russia before he could work out a way to travel legally to Latin America. Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have indicated that they would be open to offering Snowden a safe haven.