W.House U.S. in touch with countries where Snowden may travel

The United States is in touch with other countries through which former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden may travel or end up, the White House said on Monday.
   
White House spokesman Jay Carney said senior officials were briefing U.S. President Barack Obama regularly about the situation.

This comes as Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks, said that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was safe and healthy after fleeing to Moscow on his globe-crossing escape from U.S. prosecution.
   
"The current status of Mr Snowden and Harrison is that both are healthy and safe and they are in contact with their legal teams," Assange said, referring to Sarah Harrison, a WikiLeaks representative accompanying Snowden.

"Edward Snowden left Hong Kong on June 23 bound for Ecuador via a safe pass through Russia and other states," Assange told reporters on a conference call from inside Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has been himself hiding from arrest and extradition.

Meanwhile, Ecuador said that it was considering a U.S. request related to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and would take a decision in due time.
   
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Vietnam that his government would review the request, which it received from the U.S. envoy in Quito.
   
"We will consider the position of the U.S. government and we will take a decision in due course in line with the (Ecuadorean) constitution, the laws, international politics and sovereignty," Patino told a news conference in Hanoi.

This as Ecuador's foreign minister said that human rights principles were the most important consideration in the case of former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has asked the South American country for asylum.
   
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Vietnam that Ecuador was considering the request and was in "respectful" contact with Russia, where Snowden is believed to be now.

Patino said Snowden's allegations of U.S. surveillance were a rights abuse against the whole world. Only Russia could say where Snowden was currently, Patino said.

This as a Russian plane left Moscow for Havana but there was no sign that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was on board, a Reuters correspondent on the plane said.
   
A flight attendant said Snowden was not on the plane, and the seat he had been expected to occupy was taken by another passenger.

A source at Russian carrier Aeroflot, which was operating the flight, said: "He didn't take the flight."
 
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden,  an admitted leaker of state secrets,  was expected to fly from Moscow to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.
     
Snowden, also a former CIA technician, fled Hong Kong on Sunday to dodge U.S. efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.
    
Ecuador has rejected the United States' previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.
    
Snowden gave documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, often sweeping up information on American citizens.

Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.
   
Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China.

The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong to face espionage charges but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.
    
The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong.

During conversations last week, including a phone call Wednesday between Attorney General Eric Holder and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong officials never raised any issues regarding sufficiency of the U.S. request, a Justice representative said.
    
The United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington's position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S., a State Department official said. Snowden's U.S. passport has been revoked.
    
U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
    
An unidentified Aeroflot airline official was cited by Russia's state ITAR-Tass news agency and Interfax as saying Snowden was on the plane that landed Sunday afternoon in Moscow.

The Russian report said Snowden intended to fly to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela.
     
The White House was hoping to stop Snowden before he left Moscow.
    
Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, "Given our intensified cooperation after the Boston marathon bombings and our history of working with Russia on law enforcement matters  including returning numerous high-level criminals back to Russia at the request of the Russian government  we expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."
     
Still, the United States is likely to have problems interrupting Snowden's passage. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.
     
The likelihood that any of these countries would stop Snowden from traveling on to Ecuador seemed remote. While diplomatic tensions have thawed in recent years, Cuba and the United States are hardly allies after a half-century of distrust. Another country that could see Snowden pass through, Venezuela, could prove difficult, as well.

Former President Hugo Chavez was a sworn enemy of the United States and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year called President Barack Obama "grand chief of devils." The two countries do not exchange ambassadors.
   
Snowden's options aren't numerous, said Assange's lawyer, Michael Ratner.
     
"You have to have a country that's going to stand up to the United States," Ratner said. "You're not talking about a huge range of countries here."
     
It also wasn't clear Snowden was finished disclosing highly classified information.
     
Snowden has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
 

AP/REUTERS