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鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will meet with human rights groups and lawyers today at Moscow's聽Sheremetyevo International Airport, his first public appearance since arriving in Moscow last month.

Mr. Snowden issued an invitation yesterday to hear a statement on "the next steps forward in my situation." The meeting makes clear his whereabouts 鈥撀爓hich had become ambiguous amid a slew of asylum requests 鈥� at least temporarily.

RIA Novosti reports that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, lawyer Henrikh Padva, and the head of Russian rights organization 鈥淩esistance鈥� were all invited. According to CNN, that list also includes Transparency International and Russian Human聽Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin.

The Financial Times reports that several Russian politicians have also been invited, but Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary told RIA Novosti that Snowden has not requested a meeting with officials.

RIA Novosti adds that, according to Reuters, no journalists will be allowed at the initial meeting, but a press conference will take place later.

According to the Financial Times, Snowden is expected to discuss accusations that he is working for a foreign government and providing intelligence to Russia and China. Quoting Interfax news agency, the Financial Times reports that Snowden聽鈥減lans to voice his attitude to the US administration鈥檚 maniacal campaign of his persecution, as a result of which passengers of flights bound for Latin American countries are now in danger,鈥� a reference to the grounding of the plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales last week.

Amnesty International's Seregei Nikitin acknowledged to the Financial Times that there is not much human rights groups can do beyond publicizing his case. The organization's stance on Snowden is that it was聽鈥渉is right to distribute this information" and because it is possible Snowden would be tortured in the US, 鈥渉e should not be given to the US authorities," Mr. Nikitin said.

CNN reports that a staff member at the Russian office of Human Rights Watch posted the meeting invitation on her Facebook page.聽Tanya Lokshina wrote in the post that she received the emailed invitation around 5 p.m. yesterday and was unsure if it was real.

Snowden arrived in Moscow on June 23 and has since requested asylum in "dozens" of countries, CNN reports. The Washington Post's Max Fisher has tracked Snowden's asylum requests and their responses on a map here.

Reuters reports that it is not as easy as simply finding a country that will harbor him. Despite international aviation rules that allow commercial aircraft to stop in any country without prior permission, Washington has warned of "consequences" for any country that allows Snowden to land or pass through without handing him over. It will be difficult to craft a route that does not enter the airspace of any US ally.

Mr. Putin has been clear that Russia considers Snowden a "human rights issue" and will not extradite him to the US, despite American requests, RIA Novosti reports.聽Putin鈥檚 press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier this month, 鈥淪nowden himself sincerely believes, for one reason or another, that he is a rights activist, a fighter for the ideals of democracy and human freedom. This is admitted by Russian human rights activists and Russian human rights organizations, and their foreign colleagues.鈥�