Brazil rejects Snowden asylum request

Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that Brazil will not grant asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, adding that it will leave the request unanswered.           
The rejection makes Brazil the latest in a flurry of countries that have spurned asylum requests from Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for leaking information about secret U.S. electronic surveillance programs.                   

Earlier, Indian Foreign Ministry said India sees no reason to accept a request for political asylum Edward Snowden.                      

"Indian Embassy in Moscow did receive a request for asylum in a communication dated 30 June from Mr. Edward Snowden," Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's foreign ministry, said on Twitter.                                         

"Following careful examination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the Snowden request," he said.                                                

Snowden, wanted by Washington on spying charges for revealing a U.S. electronic surveillance program called Prism, has applied for political asylum in more than a dozen countries, including China and Spain.                                              

This comes as Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Norway, the Norwegian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.                     

Asked whether Snowden had applied for asylum to the Nordic country, foreign ministry spokesman Frode Andersen said: "I can confirm that. We have received an asylum application by fax to our embassy in Moscow late yesterday afternoon."                      

The spokesman declined to give details about the content of the letter or from where the fax was sent to the embassy.                                                     

For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Caracas had not yet received a request for political asylum from Snowden and would decide on it only when it did.                                    
"He deserves the world's protection. He has not asked us for it yet. When he does we will give our answer," Maduro told Reuters during a visit to Moscow.
                                                   
However, the Kremlin said that Edward Snowden has withdrawn a request for political asylum in Russia after President Vladimir Putin said he should stop "harming our American partners”.                                 
Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said Snowden was in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and had not crossed through passport control onto Russian territory.                                       
In turn, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said Edward Snowden applied for political asylum in Austria via the country's Moscow embassy on Monday but would need to submit such a request directly in Austria.                          

The Austria Press Agency quoted her as saying Snowden would not be deported if he arrived in Austria because "there is no international arrest warrant".
                                  
As for Spain, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters in the Spanish parliament that any application by Snowden for political asylum would be invalid since he is not on Spanish soil.                                                  

As well, Poland, among the staunchest U.S. allies in Europe, said it will demand an explanation from Washington about allegations from ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden that U.S. agencies spied on European Union communications.                          

"We will demand an explanation for NSA (U.S. National Security Agency) actions towards Poland and the EU," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a Twitter post.          

On another note, French President Francois Hollande called on the European Union to take a joint stance over allegations of Washington spying on its allies.                       

Allegations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying over European offices have sparked widespread concern in Europe.     


REUTERS