Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered to give "humanitarian asylum" to US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who is thought to be waiting in a Moscow airport for a country to give him sanctuary.

"As head of state of the Boliviarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world," Mr Maduro said at an independence day event.

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Credit:Reuters

Moments earlier in Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega said his government was willing to give asylum to the US fugitive, offering a glimmer of hope to Mr Snowden, who has been in limbo, thought to be at Moscow's international airport, since June 23.