Bilateral deal will allow WikiLeaks founder to be questioned in Ecuador’s London embassy over sexual assault claims

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, may be questioned in London within days about alleged sexual offences after Ecuador indicated it had reached a bilateral deal with Sweden.

Assange has been wanted for questioning by Swedish authorities since 2010, but was granted asylum by Ecuador and has been in the country’s London embassy for more than three years. In April, the activist said he consented to the Swedish prosecutor’s conditions for the interrogation procedure to take place in the Kensington embassy.

The agreement refers specifically to Assange and Sweden’s intention to question him in London and will come into effect “in the coming days”, a statement from the Ecuadorian foreign ministry said.

Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, told the Guardian that Sweden needed to formally approve the deal and he understood those discussions would take place on Thursday.

Negotiations began in June this year between Ecuador’s acting foreign minister, Xavier Lasso, and the Swedish justice ministry’s international affairs chief, Anna-Carin Svensson.

The Ecuadorian government statement said: “The agreement, without any doubt, is a tool that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitates, for example, the execution of such legal actions as the questioning of Mr Assange, isolated in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.”

The deal would ensure “the implementation and enforcement of national legislation and principles of international law, particularly those relating to human rights, to further the full exercise of national sovereignty in any event of legal assistance that may be required between Ecuador and Sweden”.

The agreement would be the final step towards interviewing Assange in London, with a request to the UK for legal assistance having already been granted, according to previous statements from the Swedish prosecutor’s office.

Assange sought refuge at the embassy in June 2012 after losing his final legal attempt to avoid extradition. Sweden’s director of public prosecutions, Marianne Ny, said in March this year that she would allow Assange to be interviewed in London if agreement could be reached with Ecuador.

Two women made allegations against Assange five years ago in Stockholm, but no charges have been brought because the prosecutor has been unable to interrogate him.

Assange denies the offences and claims that if he surrendered to Swedish custody he would be indicted for espionage by the US for his work with WikiLeaks, which has released millions of classified documents.

In August, Swedish prosecutors announced they were dropping their investigation into two allegations of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion, as the statute of limitations had run out. Investigations into the outstanding allegation of rape continue, and the statute of limitation for that will not expire for another four and a half years.

The Metropolitan police recently announced the end of permanent patrols outside the embassy, which had been in place since Assange arrived, because they were “no longer proportionate”.