Edward Snowden still says he has no regrets about blowing the whistle on the NSA's global spying program, but admits he's worried about being handed over to the US by Vladimir Putin - and that he's 'not counting' on an Obama pardon.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo News, Snowden, who has been given asylum by Russia since 2013, admitted he would be bothered about being handed over to Donald Trump.

'Well, who wouldn't?' he answered. 'I mean, that would obviously be something that would bother me. That would obviously be something that would be a threat to my liberty and to my life.'

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Hiding out: Edward Snowden says he doesn't expect President Obama to sign a pardon for him, but hopes he will - because if he doesn't, he may be handed over to Donald Trump

Pardon: Obama's said he won't sign a pardon unless Snowden returns for trial - but Snowden says if he returns without a pardon it 'would be a threat to my liberty and to my life'

Snowden was given three years' asylum in Russia in 2013 after fleeing the US, where he faced a maximum of 30 years in prison for leaking the NSA documents.

Now intelligence officials believe that Vladimir Putin is considering handing over Snowden to President-elect Donald Trump as a welcome gift - and as punishment for speaking out about the country's repressive laws, Yahoo reported.

Snowden has been vocal about his contempt for Russian surveillance laws and its treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people.

Should he be returned home without a pardon or plea bargain to grasp onto, Snowden likely faces a grim future: Donald Trump's incoming CIA director, Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo, has called for the death penalty for Snowden.

However, the 33-year-old told Couric that whatever happened, he was unrepentant.

'What I'm proud of is the fact that every decision that I made I can defend,' he said.

At the moment, Snowden is backed by an online campaign to get President Obama to pardon him before he leaves office.

But Obama says he won't sign off on any deal until after Snowden is in the country and his case has been through court.

'I'm not counting on it,' Snowden said when asked about the possibility of a Presidential pardon.

But he says that 'the possibility for a pardon has never been more likely, and this is a surprise to myself as much as anyone else, I think.'

Deal: It's believed that Vladimir Putin (right) may hand over Snowden to Trump as a welcome gift - and because Snowden's spoken out about Russia's anti-LGBT and web surveillance laws

Snowden cited a letter signed by 15 former staff members of the Church Committee - which exposed FBI and CIA abuses, including drugging unwitting college students in the 1970s - that backs him as evidence of how strong his case is.

That letter, reported by The Intercept, urges Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch 'leniency to Edward Snowden in negotiating a fair and just settlement of the criminal charges against him' - but stops short of demanding a full pardon.

The letter's authors argued 'that this case has caused far more benefits to American society, which I think is uncontroversial at this point, than any claimed harms for which we've never seen evidence,' Snowden said.

When Couric asked him whether what he'd done had made it harder for the US to deal with terrorist threats, Snowden was dismissive.

'Do you really think if the government can show somebody was hurt, a program was damaged, we've gone dark and can't track dangerous people, they wouldn't leak that criticism?' he said.

Interview: Snowden made the remarks in an interview with Katie Couric (left). He says that if he is handed back to the US it will at least prove that he's not been colluding with Russia

'That wouldn't be on the front page of the New York Times by the end of the day? I don't think so. And I hope, maybe in time, you'll think the same.'

And while he may find himself ejected from Russia for speaking out against the government, he remains stoic - arguing that it proves he's nor an enemy of the US.

'It wasn't so many years ago that people were saying, "This guy's a Russian spy,"' he said.

'But countries don't give up their spies. And if my recent criticism of the Russian government's Internet policies, criticisms of their human rights record, have been so severe that even my greatest critics in the intelligence community are now saying, "Oh, yeah, he's a liability, they wanna get him out of there,' that's a vindication."'

When asked what it's a vindication of, he replied: 'The fact that I'm independent, the fact that I have always worked on behalf of the United States, and the fact that Russia doesn't own me.'

According to PardonSnowden.org, there are 45 days left for Obama to sign a pardon.