That's an important distinction, thank you for making it.

Late May, Snowden fled to China. Days later, documents he stole were first published. Less than a month later, he and the Wikileaks legal team were moving him to Russia where he requested political asylum. Many people reasonably find it hard to believe that Snowden's introduction to Wikileaks personnel happened in that less-than-one-month timeframe. Like any journalist will tell you, though, the story is a very complex one.

From Snowden's autobiography, Permanent Record, page 239: "Enter Sarah Harrison, a journalist and an editor for WikiLeaks. The moment the news broke that an American had unmasked a global system of mass surveillance, she had immediately flown to Hong Kong. Through her experience with the website and particularly with the fate of Assange, she was poised to offer me the world's best asylum advice. It didn't hurt that she also had family connections with the legal community in Hong Kong. ... after a sharp disagreement just a month after our first, text-based conversation, I never communicated with [Assange] again... Though I never was, and never would be, a source for Assange, my situation gave him a chance to right a wrong... he seemed, through Sarah, determined to do everything he could to save me... That said, I was initially wary of Sarah's involvement. But Laura told me that she was serious, competent, and, most important, independent: one of the few at WikiLeaks who dared to openly disagree with Assange."

Details that are so personal, openly admitting his distrust and disagreements with Wikileaks, while still writing kind words speculating as to why they would help - this doesn't sound like a long-standing conspiracy and a clever cover story. It sounds incredibly believable.

The funny part is that John Schindler claims that Snowden in Hong Kong, in private, had drinks at the local Russian consulate.