Snowden Made 21 Asylum Requests, Drops Russia Bid

The 'nos' are starting to pile up
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 2, 2013 4:07 AM CDT
Updated Jul 2, 2013 7:43 AM CDT
Snowden Drops Russia Asylum Bid
The Ecuadorean consul who issued a travel document to Snowden will be "sanctioned," President Rafael Correa,says.   (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Can Edward Snowden afford to be choosy? Authorities in Russia say the NSA leaker has reportedly canceled a request for asylum after balking at the conditions imposed by Vladimir Putin, including no longer leaking information damaging to the US, the AP reports. Snowden has applied for asylum in no fewer than 21 countries, according to WikiLeaks, but the rejections are starting to pile up: Germany, Norway, Austria, Poland, Finland, and Switzerland all say he needs to be on their soil to request asylum. And India this morning "concluded that we see no reason to accede to that request."

Norway has confirmed that its Moscow embassy has received a fax that is "probably from him," while Poland's foreign minister says he has received an asylum request from Snowden that he will not recommend granting, the BBC reports. Requests have also been made to Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Spain, and Venezuela, WikiLeaks says. Ecuador's president now says helping Snowden leave Hong Kong was "a mistake," the Guardian reports, but Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro—who is currently visiting Moscow—says his country has yet to receive an asylum request from Snowden, but the leaker has "done something very important for humanity" and "deserved the world's protection." (More Rafael Correa stories.)

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