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MOSCOW — Edward Snowden, the alleged National Security Agency leaker, will meet with human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Friday, reports said.
The meeting is planned for Friday early evening local time, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The news agency quoted a representative of Sheremetyevo Airport as saying: "The meeting will take place at 17:00 (Moscow time), we will arrange for access and a platform for the meeting."
Transparency International, a global corruption watchdog, confirmed to USA TODAY that the group received an invitation from Snowden, in which he says that as someone who openly advocates human rights he wanted to meet with activists.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, a representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as several individuals, have also been invited, RIA Novosti reported.

Snowden will reportedly make a statement after the meeting. It is not immediately clear what he will talk about, although in the invitation sent to the activists — the veracity of which has not been independently verified — Snowden said: "I invite the Human Rights organizations and other respected individuals addressed to join me ... for a brief statement and discussion regarding the next steps forward in my situation."
The emailed invitation from edsnowden@lavabit.com also states: "I have been extremely fortunate to enjoy and accept many offers of support and asylum from brave countries around the world. These nations have my gratitude, and I hope to travel to each of them to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders."
In the Invitation Snowden claims that the U.S. government is trying to "deny my right to seek and enjoy this asylum under Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The scale of threatening behavior is without precedent."
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that the Kremlin has not been invited to the meeting.
Snowden arrived in Russia on June 23 but has not been seen in public despite being believed to be in the airport's transit zone while bidding for asylum. Friday's developments therefore offer an opportunity to confirm that Snowden is still in Russia.
Snowden is thought to be seeking refuge in a Latin American country, with Venezuela the current front-runner even though President Nicolas Maduro has said that no formal application has been made.
The ACLU, meanwhile, issued a statement charging that the USA has interfered with Snowden's right to seek asylum by revoking his passport and appears to have prevented him from receiving fair and impartial consideration of his application in many of the countries to which he has applied.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU human rights program, and Chandra Bhatnaqar, senior attorney for the progam, also warn that by infringing on Snowden's right to asylum, "U.S. actions also create the risk of providing cover for other countries to crack down on whistleblowers and deny asylum to individuals who have exposed illegal activity or human rights violations.
"That's a very dangerous precedent to set," the statement says.