CONFUSION over NSA leaker Edward Snowden deepened after a prominent Russian politican tweeted that Snowden had accepted political asylum in Venezuela, then deleted the posting a few minutes later.

"As was expected, Snowden agreed to (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro's offer of political asylum," Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, said on Twitter. "Apparently this option looked like the most reliable one to Snowden."

Minutes after the announcement the statement was removed from his Twitter feed.

After the posting on his Twitter account disappeared, he sent another message saying his claim was based on a report from the state all-news television channel Vesti.

However, no such information could be found on Vesti's website and no Russian news agency reported that Vesti had reported it. The TV channel could not immediately be reached for comment.

The channel said Mr Pushkov misunderstood its report, which the anchorwoman had introduced by saying "Venezuela has finally received an answer" from Snowden.

WikiLeaks has since said Mr Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela.

"Edward Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela. The Russian lawmaker concerned has deleted the tweet," WikiLeaks said on its Twitter account.

The Kremlin declined comment on Tuesday's developments.

The message did not clarify how he learned of Mr Snowden's purported acceptance, but Mr Pushkov has acted as an unofficial point-man for the Kremlin on the Snowden affair.

Mr Pushkov's announcement came after the leftist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua had over the past few days offered the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor asylum.

Mr Snowden, who revealed details of a US intelligence program to monitor internet activity, came to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on June 23 and was believed to be headed for Cuba.

But he did not board that flight and has not been seen since. He is widely believed to be still in the airport's transit zone.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said on Saturday his country hadn't yet been in contact with Mr Snowden, who has been unable to travel further because the US annulled his passport.

For Mr Snowden to leave for South America, he would need for Venezuela to issue him travel documents and he would need to find a way to get there. The only direct commercial flight from Moscow goes to Havana, Cuba.

The Moscow-Havana flight goes over Europe and the US, which could cause complications.

Some European countries refused to allow Bolivian President Evo Morales to fly through their airspace on his way home from Moscow last week because of suspicions that Mr Snowden was on his plane.