THE WHITE House has put pressure on Russia to expel fugitive Edward Snowden to ensure he returns to the US.
The administration urged Moscow not to allow the surveillance whistleblower to leave the country to travel elsewhere as his attempted escape to South America descended into confusion.
The White House also criticised China for allowing the former US spy agency contractor who disclosed government surveillance secrets to leave Hong Kong.
A White House spokesman said the US assumed Mr Snowden was still in Russia and dismissed suggestions the decision to allow Mr Snowden to depart Hong Kong was a technical one.
He said: "We are just not buying that this was a technical decision by a Hong Kong immigration official.
"This was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the US-China relationship.
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed frustration that neither the Chinese or Russian governments had detained Mr Snowden.
He said: "It would be deeply troubling if they had adequate notice and, notwithstanding that, they made the decision wilfully to ignore that and not live by the standards of the law."
Mr Snowden, who had worked at a US National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, had been hiding in Hong Kong since leaking details about secret US surveillance programs to news media.
The 30-year-old has applied to Ecuador for political asylum, but the country's foreign minister has implied he is still in Russia. A seat was booked in his name on a flight to Cuba yesterday morning, but he is not thought to have boarded.
The White House spokesman said US officials had been in contact with Hong Kong authorities since June 10 and urged them to honour Washington's request that he be arrested. Hong Kong acknowledged receipt of the US request on June 17 and requested additional information.
He said: "The US had been in communication about these inquiries and were in the process of responding to the request when we learned Hong Kong authorities had allowed the fugitive to leave.
The White House spokesman noted that individuals with arrest warrants were subject to having their passports revoked.
He could not comment specifically on Mr Snowden's passport for privacy reasons but said Hong Kong officials were advised of his travel document status in time to have prohibited his departure.
Mr Snowden is charged with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.
The White House spokesman, who in recent weeks has avoided mentioning Mr Snowden by name, criticised the former contractor for the countries he had potentially chosen for refuge. He said: "Mr Snowden's claim that he is focused on supporting transparency, freedom of the press and protection of individual rights is belied by the protectors he has potentially chosen – China, Russia, Ecuador, as we've seen.
"His failures to criticise these regimes suggests his true motive throughout has been to injure the national security of the United States, not to advance internet freedom and free speech."
Russian officials say they lack the legal authority to detain him.
"The Americans cannot demand anything," human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin said, saying that as long as Mr Snowden did not leave the Moscow airport's secure transit area, he was not on Russian soil.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article