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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino speaks to reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday June 24, 2013. Patino said his country will act not on its interests but on its principles as it considers an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealing classified U.S. secrets. Patino said he could not comment on Snowden's location after the U.S. fugitive did not board a flight from Moscow to Cuba on which he was booked. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)
LONDON>> Ecuador could take months to decide whether to grant National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden asylum, and the country’s relations with the U.S. would be one of the factors considered, an official from the Latin American country said today.
Speaking during a visit to Malaysia’s main city, Kuala Lumpur, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden’s case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.
Asked if Ecuador would provide protection to Snowden while considering his request for asylum, Patino said through a translator that if Snowden "goes to the embassy, then we will make a decision."
Patino refused to say what criteria Ecuador would use to decide, but added that his government would "consider all these risks," including concerns that helping Snowden would hurt trade with the U.S. and damage his country’s economy.
Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia. He booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn’t board the plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has since said that Snowden was still in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, a statement that did little to dispel speculation over what he was doing there and where he would eventually go.
WikiLeaks gave a terse update on Snowden’s condition later Wednesday, saying in a statement posted to Twitter suggesting it had just received an update on Snowden and that he was "safe and well."
WikiLeaks has said that one of its staffers, Sarah Harrison, was traveling with Snowden, but the statement gave no indication if the update came from her, from Snowden, or from some other source. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson did not immediately return a call and a text seeking further comment.
In a conference with reporters on Monday, Assange said that he was limited in what he could say about Snowden due to security concerns. He denied reports that Snowden was spending his time at the airport being debriefed by Russian spies.
In another development in the Snowden story, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said Wednesday that he had decided not to represent the leaker. A statement from his law firm provided no further explanation.
Garzon, who has fought on WikiLeaks’ behalf, became famous for indicting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, and trying to put him on trial for crimes against humanity. He was suspended from office in Spain for overstepping his powers by starting an investigation into killings committed on behalf of former Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
