Bolivia furious over Snowden jet claims

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Snowden not on Morales jet in Vienna: Austria Austria insisted Wednesday that US fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden was not on board Bolivian President Evo Morales's jet, which was diverted to Vienna overnight, but said it did not search the plane. Powered by NewsLook.com

Bolivian President Evo Morales%27 plane was rerouted to Austria

France%2C Portugal and Spain refused to let it cross their airspace

Morales is now on his way back to Bolivia after Snowden was not found

Bolivia has called a decision by European authorities to force a jet carrying President Evo Morales to land in Austria and undergo a search for former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden an "act of aggression."

The plane carrying Morales departed Europe for Bolivia on Wednesday after being diverted to Vienna over suspicions it was carrying NSA leaker Snowden, but Austria's deputy chancellor confirmed Wednesday that Snowden was not on the plane.

Morales had been flying back to Bolivia from Moscow, where he was attending a summit on gas. Snowden is thought to be at Moscow's international airport.

Bolivia said it would file a complaint to the United Nations over a blockade by France, Spain and Italy that saw them deny airspace to the presidential jet, Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday.

Sacha Llorentty Soliz told reporters he had no doubt that the orders to divert Morales' plane came from the United States, and said the search was a "violation of international law" as well as an aggressive act.

In a midnight press conference in La Paz, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia described Morales as being "kidnapped by imperialism" in Europe.

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There was no immediate U.S. or European response.

Bolivia said Spain agreed to allow the plane to refuel in the Canary Islands on its way back home Wednesday — but only if Bolivian authorities agreed to allow it to be inspected.

EU Transport spokeswoman Helen Kearns said it is up to national governments to allow or refuse planes entry into their airspace. She said it's unclear what happened with the Bolivian plane and whether or not it was refused access and why.

Earlier, Russian news agencies quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Snowden, unhappy with the conditions Russia has set, had taken back his application for asylum there.

Of the list of 21 countries where Snowden has applied for asylum, at least 10 have either turned him down flatly or said his request was invalid because he was not physically on their territory. The rest are pending.

Separately, the French government wants major trade negotiations between the U.S. and the European Union suspended for two weeks amid anger over alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European allies.

Contributing: Associated Press