PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador — Edward Snowden is "under the care of the Russian authorities" and can't leave Moscow's international airport without their consent, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told The Associated Press Sunday in an interview telegraphing the slim and diminishing possibility that the National Security Agency leaker will end up in Ecuador.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has distanced himself from the case since Snowden arrived in Russia last week. But Correa portrayed Russia as entirely the masters of Snowden's fate while speaking in this Pacific coast city.
Putin insists the 30-year-old former NSA contractor remains in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and that as long as he has not legally entered Russia, he is out of the Kremlin's control.
However, the Kremlin also said Sunday that it will take public opinion and the views of human rights activists into account when considering Snowden's case, a move that could lay the groundwork for him to seek asylum in Russia.
"This is the decision of Russian authorities," Correa told the AP. "He doesn't have a passport. I don't know the Russian laws, I don't know if he can leave the airport, but I understand that he can't. At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities. If he arrives at an Ecuadorean Embassy we'll analyze his request for asylum."