However Mr Assange said WikiLeaks has been "watching the situation closely and the Russian authorities have behaved well". "My interpretation is that this is a political and diplomatic matter that long ago rose above being just an intelligence matter," he said. Specifically asked whether Mr Snowden had been interviewed by the FSB or any other Russian intelligence agency, Mr Assange replied "No, he has not". The US government has condemned Mr Snowden's disclosure of top-secret National Security Agency surveillance programs and called for him to be returned to the US to face prosecution. On August 1, Mr Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia for one year. In response US President Barack Obama cancelled a planned summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Assange said that "bellicose threats" from Washington over Mr Snowden's case had scored a "diplomatic own goal" in the United States' relations with Russia and other countries, especially in Latin America after Bolivian president Evo Morales' plane was forced to divert from a return flight from Moscow after US authorities wrongly alleged Mr Snowden had been smuggled aboard.

Asked why WikiLeaks had been the only organisation to intervene directly to support Mr Snowden, facilitating his travel from Hong Kong to Russia and organising a legal defence fund, Mr Assange said it was a matter of "having the skills set and international network to do it" as well as a case of "practising what you preach". He said media organisations had an obligation wherever possible to protect sources by maintaining confidentiality or, when a source disclosed themselves, by offering other practical assistance. "There is a moral obligation, and in order to maximise the amount of important information coming to the public you have to make the source feel comfortable with that. That's one of the reasons for our involvement in the Snowden matter." Mr Assange said WikiLeaks' assessment of the legal situation in Hong Kong had been that sooner or later the Hong Kong government would have moved to process a US extradition request, and that Mr Snowden would have most likely been denied bail and imprisoned while the matter was decided. In contrast, Mr Assange said it had always appeared he would be "safe from extradition from Russia".

Asked about The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's statements that as far as he is aware only he and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras have access to the full archive of classified intelligence documents leaked by Mr Snowden, Mr Assange said he would not comment on a question relating to the sourcing of a publication or possible publication. However he did suggest that a wider disclosure of Mr Snowden's material may yet take place beyond the "heavy US and European focus" of reporting by The Guardian, The Washington Post and Der Spiegel newspapers. "Hopefully one day, not too far in the future, we will see a WikiLeaks file rollout to media organisations," Mr Assange said. "That is the way I would do it, like Cablegate [WikiLeaks' release of US diplomatic cables in late 2012] that had an important effect on every country." "I would like to see the organisations involved learn from our successes and see a global rollout like Cablegate. "Everything else being equal, material should be published as soon as possible … otherwise governments or agencies start to cover up, [and] work out how to prepare their spin."

In a statement released on Thursday Mr Snowden said he wanted to set the record straight after lawyers associated with his father, Lon Snowden, had "misled" journalists into "printing false claims about my situation". In an emailed statement to The Huffington Post news website, Mr Snowden said that neither his father, his father's lawyer Bruce Fein, nor Fein's wife and spokeswoman Mattie Fein "represent me in any way" and "do not possess any special knowledge regarding my situation or future plans". Ms Fein had told The Wall Street Journal that Lon Snowden's legal team didn't trust Mr Greenwald or WikiLeaks. Mr Snowden responded to "correct the record", saying that "I've been fortunate to have legal advice from an international team of some of the finest lawyers in the world, and to work with journalists whose integrity and courage are beyond question. There is no conflict amongst myself and any of the individuals or organisations with whom I have been involved."