NSA leaker Edward Snowden's escape routes dwindle as countries rule out asylum

Russian president Vladimir Putin had offered Snowden asylum but on the condition that he agreed to stop leaking U.S. secrets. Snowden has dropped his bid for asylum there. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

By F. Brinley Bruton, Alex Stambaugh and Carlo Angerer, NBC News

NSA leaker Edward Snowden's options dwindled Tuesday as several countries he'd sought refuge in revealed he was not eligible for asylum.

Anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks said late Monday the former CIA contractor had sought asylum in at least 21 countries, including China, Russia, Venezuela and Iceland. ?The requests, which "outline the risks of persecution Mr Snowden faces in the United States," had been presented to?a Russian official at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, the group said.?

But only hours later, his applications to many of those countries were deemed not valid.

Spain, Ireland, Ecuador, Austria and Finland confirmed that Snowden's paperwork could not be processed because he was not on their soil or at their borders. ?

"We don?t consider it as an application at this point," a spokesman at Finland's Foreign Ministry said.

India said it had rejected Snowden's asylum request outright.

"Following careful examination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the Snowden request," Syed Akbaruddin, a?spokesman for the the country's foreign ministry,?said on Twitter.

In a statement, Poland said immigration officials had received "a fax from a person who signed as E. Snowden which does not fulfill the requirements of a formal application for asylum."

Snowden, who has described himself as a "a stateless person" after his U.S. passport was revoked, is believed to have been at a transit area at the Moscow airport for nine days.

He left the U.S. for Hong Kong before allegedly leaking details of U.S. surveillance programs. Espionage charges were filed on June 22.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich confirmed Tuesday that Snowden had made a request for asylum. According to news magazine Spiegel, the country's Foreign Ministry was examining if Germany could allow entry to Snowden.

The opposition Green Party said Snowden "did a service for Germany by unveiling practices, which breach fundamental basic rights and represent a massive breach of trust between allies" and has suggested the former contractor had a legitimate case.

Norway said that it was processing Snowden's request. ??

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his country had not received a formal asylum request but added that he thought countries should support the Snowden's work exposing ?the imperialist elite of the United States.?

"They spy on friend and ?foe," Maduro told reporters after a gas exporters' conference in Russia. "They have created a semi-Orwellian system."?

France and Switzerland said they had not yet received an asylum request.

"So far we have not received an application for entry or asylum from Mr. Snowden. We didn?t get anything," said Valentina Anufrieva, a press officer in the Swiss Embassy in Moscow.

Snowden could apply for a humanitarian visa which would allow entry for three months, however, said a spokeswoman at the Swiss office for migration, which handles asylum requests.

Yvonne Wiggers, who handles asylum cases at the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, said that Snowden had not "technically" submitted a request.

She added: ?In special cases where the applicant is in direct danger, sometimes embassies will help you.?

But when asked whether the Netherlands had plans to help Snowden, Wiggers replied:"I think not."

Other countries on the WikiLeaks list -- such as Bolivia and Iceland -- could not be immediately contacted.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Snowden could stay in Russia on one condition.

"He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips," he told reporters in Moscow. "He must choose a country of destination and go there. Unfortunately, I don't know when this will happen."

A Kremlin spokesman said Tuesday that Snowden had withdrawn his Russian application for asylum.

NBC News' Jim Maceda and Christina Marker and Reuters contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Tue Jul 2, 2013 9:44 AM EDT

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