Russia says it has not received asylum application from Snowden

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Russian authorities on Saturday said they have not yet received a request for asylum from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor behind U.S. intelligence leaks.

The Interfax news agency quoted Russian migration service head Konstantin Romodanovsky as saying no asylum request had been received as of Saturday.

On Friday, Snowden met with human rights activists at Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport — where he has been since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23 — and said he would seek Russian asylum, at least as a temporary measure before going to Venezuela, Bolivia or Nicaragua, all of which have offered him asylum.

Granting asylum to Snowden would add significant new stress to already-troubled Washington-Moscow relations.

Contributing: Associated Press