No EU country expected to grant Snowden's asylum

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An anonymous diplomat with the European External Action Service (EEAS) told Xinhua on Tuesday that no member state is expected to give green light to Snowden's asylum requests.

The WikiLeaks said on early Tuesday that the former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is formally seeking asylum in nine member states of the European Union (EU).

According to a WikiLeaks press release, WikiLeaks' legal advisor in the Edward Snowden matter, Sarah Harrison, submitted by hand a number of requests for asylum and asylum assistance on behalf of Snowden on 30 June. It said the requests were delivered to an official at the Russian consulate at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow late in the evening.

"The documents outline the risks of persecution Snowden faces in the United States and have started to be delivered by the Russian consulate to the relevant embassies in Moscow," said the press release.

Besides earlier requests filed with Ecuador and Iceland, Snowden has made a fresh batch of asylum requests to 19 countries, including nine EU member states: Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, and two other European countries Norway and Switzerland. Thus, European countries on Snowden's asylum request list have totalized 12.

Observers close to the EU believe Snowden's new move will lead to diplomatic troubles in Europe.

The EU diplomat said that before the U.S. clarifies the surveillance reports, any diplomatic move must be prudently.

The Norwegian government on Tuesday confirmed that it has received the asylum application by Snowden, but will reject it based on Norwegian laws.

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