Special to WorldTribune.com

Russian spies ‘tricked’ U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden into asking Moscow for asylum by posing as diplomats after spending six years targeting him, a former major in the KGB has claimed.

Boris Karpichkov, who fled Russia after 15 years serving with the KGB said Snowden had been identified as a potential defector as far back as 2007. Snowden, 30, arrived in Moscow after he was revealed as responsible for leaking more than 1.7 million highly classified U.S. documents.

Karpichkov told the Sunday People that Russian security agents leaked information concerning Snowden’s arrival in Moscow to provoke the US into action. The US cancelled Snowden’s passport before he could get a connecting flight out of Moscow, forcing him to seek asylum.

According to Karpichkov: ‘It was a trick and he fell for it. Now the Russians are extracting all the intelligence he possesses.’ Karpichkov said: ‘He lives in a block of flats in Moscow’s ­suburbs controlled by the FSB. His flat is heavily alarmed to stop anything happening to him. He meets the FSB twice a week over plenty of food and drink.’

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  Edward Snowden, Former Russian spy: Moscow targeted Snowden six years before ‘tricking’ him into seeking asylum, KGB, LIFE, WorldTribune.com