Edward Snowden Requests Asylum In Ecuador

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador after fleeing Hong Kong on a flight to Moscow.

After more than two weeks in hiding, the ex-CIA analyst boarded an Aeroflot flight to the Russian capital on Sunday morning.

The US said it was "disappointed" by Hong Kong's "troubling" failure to arrest him.

Minutes after touching down at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport at 5.05pm, Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said his government had received a request for asylum.

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia has arrived at a hotel near the airport, and a car bearing the country's flag was pictured nearby.

Some reports say he could leave for the South American country as early as Monday.

The US has revoked Mr Snowden's passport, and says the "chase is on" to catch him.

Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said: "I want to get him caught and brought back for trial. I think the chase is on and we'll see what happens."

The US State Department said Mr Snowden should not be allowed to travel further.

A spokesman for Wikileaks, which is assisting him, said: "Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives at his final destination his request will be formally processed."

Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange added: "The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".

WikiLeaks said he was being accompanied by Sarah Harrison, described by them as a UK citizen, journalist and legal researcher.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said there is a flight ticket in his name from Moscow to Cuba and that he will then fly on from there. It said that his flight to Havana from Moscow would take place on Monday.

However former security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said countries without extradition treaties would not necessarily be safe for Mr Snowden.

She said: "He's clearly going to try to seek somewhere where there is no extradition treaty, that does not follow that the government of a country which does not have an extradition treaty won't in the end decide to hand them over."

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been granted asylum in Ecuador.

Assange is currently in the Ecuador embassy in London. He is unable to leave without being arrested as he is wanted for questioning by Sweden over alleged sexual offences.

Assange confirmed his organisation's involvement to Australian newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said: "Mr Snowden is ... accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisers.

"He ... will be met by diplomats from the country that will be his ultimate destination. Diplomats from that country will accompany him on a further flight to his destination."

Snowden left Hong Kong after The White House asked the autonomous Chinese territory to extradite him. He had earlier been charged in the US with espionage.

The Hong Kong government has said that although the US had sought his extradition, the request did not fully comply with requirements. It said that as a result, he was free to leave.

A US Department of Justice spokesperson said: "The US is disappointed and disagrees with the determination by Hong Kong authorities not to honour the US request for the arrest of the fugitive.

"The request for the fugitive's arrest for purposes of his extradition complied with all of the requirements of the US-Hong Kong Surrender Agreement.

"At no point, in all of our discussions through Friday, did the authorities in Hong Kong raise any issues regarding the sufficiency of the US's provisional arrest request.

"In light of this, we find their decision to be particularly troubling."

Snowden was revealed earlier this month to have been the man who leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers information about monitoring by America's National Security Agency.

Snowden claimed the NSA has been keeping details of millions of phone calls by Americans and monitoring the use by foreigners of internet sites including Google, Facebook and Yahoo.