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Snowden and NSA leaks

No comment on Snowden's asylum request from embassies in Moscow

None of the diplomatic missions of the countries listed in a WikiLeaks report has agreed to elaborate on the issue

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - The embassies of the countries where former CIA employee Edward Snowden reportedly sent faxes with a political asylum request refuse to comment on the issue.

No matter where Tass reporters had applied, they got the same answer - Presently we don’t comment on this information. Or - For all questions, please contact the leadership of the country. Sometimes they were told - We know nothing, you are the first to call us. None of the diplomatic missions of the countries listed in a WikiLeaks report has agreed to elaborate on the issue.

In its report on Tuesday it said Snowden had submitted requests for political asylum to over 20 countries. “The requests were made to a number of countries including the Republic of Austria, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of India, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Poland, the Russian Federation, the Kingdom of Spain, the Swiss Confederation and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” it said.

Snowden, 30, leaked classified National Security Agency documents that reveal how the government accesses the phone and online data belonging to millions of Americans. He made this public in Hong Kong, from where he left for Moscow on June 23. On the following day Snowden was to have flown from Moscow to Cuba, but he did not board the plane. The American is still in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

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