<p>Edward Snowden has asked for asylum in Ecuador, its foreign minister today said as the ex-NSA contractor seeks to escape US justice for revealing a vast phone and Web snooping drive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ecuador is led by President Rafael Correa, an outspoken leftist, populist and critic of the United States in the mold of his late mentor Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.<br /><br />Ecuador has been sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year.<br /><br />Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino made the announcement of Snowden's asylum request on his Twitter account. He did so from Vietnam where he was on an official visit.<br /><br />"The government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. Snowden," Patino said.<br /><br />Snowden arrived today in Moscow from Hong Kong, where he first fled with a trove of secrets taken from the National Security Agency.<br /><br />Snowden was charged with espionage by the US authorities last week.</p>
<p>Edward Snowden has asked for asylum in Ecuador, its foreign minister today said as the ex-NSA contractor seeks to escape US justice for revealing a vast phone and Web snooping drive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ecuador is led by President Rafael Correa, an outspoken leftist, populist and critic of the United States in the mold of his late mentor Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.<br /><br />Ecuador has been sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year.<br /><br />Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino made the announcement of Snowden's asylum request on his Twitter account. He did so from Vietnam where he was on an official visit.<br /><br />"The government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. Snowden," Patino said.<br /><br />Snowden arrived today in Moscow from Hong Kong, where he first fled with a trove of secrets taken from the National Security Agency.<br /><br />Snowden was charged with espionage by the US authorities last week.</p>