Ecuador yet to decide whether to admit Snowden: Correa

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador’s president said Thursday his government has yet to consider whether to admit US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and warned that his asylum request could not be processed until he reached Ecuadoran territory.

“Would he be allowed to arrive on Ecuadoran territory? This is something that, in principle, we haven’t considered,” Rafael Correa told a news conference amid tensions with the United States over Quito’s involvement in the affair.

“We would probably examine it, but for now he is in Russia,” he said, adding that Ecuador’s ambassador to Russia met Snowden just once last Monday in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

The leftist leader said Snowden’s political asylum request was being studied, but he said Quito could not process the petition as long as he was not on Ecuadoran territory.

“You request asylum when you are on a country’s territory. Snowden is not on Ecuadoran territory, so technically we cannot even process the asylum request,” Correa said.

The Ecuadoran president also denied that his government had given Snowden a safe passage travel document or refugee papers.

The ambassador to Russia, Patricio Chavez, told Correa that Snowden was “in good health” and “confirmed his desire that Ecuador grant him asylum. We haven’t had more contact since then,” Correa said.

Correa said Snowden, who has been holed up in a Moscow airport since Sunday, was “in the care of Russian authorities.” – Rappler.com