Edward Snowden has left the Russian airport

Edward Snowden’s lawyer confirms that he has left the Russian airport where he has been avoiding extradition to the United States for more than a month.

Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia for one year, his Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told The Associated Press. His whereabouts in the country being kept secret.

Snowden was found to be the man behind a massive data leak of information from the U.S. National Security Agency. The leak contained damning evidence of a secret program where the U.S. government tracked citizens’ telephone and Internet data.

He had been living in the Russian airport since arriving from Hong Kong, where he was previously hiding, on June 23.

Snowden has been charged under the Espionage Act and the U.S. revoked his passport. The United States has asked Russia to co-operate in his extradition, but President Vladamir Putin has refused.

The English-launguage Russian news site RT.com reports that Snowden left the airport and got into a taxi around 3:30 p.m. local time.