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| Bolivia leader's jet diverted 'amid Snowden suspicions' | Bolivia leader's jet diverted 'amid Snowden suspicions' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane has been diverted to Austria amid suspicion that US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is on board, the foreign minister has said. | Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane has been diverted to Austria amid suspicion that US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is on board, the foreign minister has said. |
| David Choquehuanca denied that Mr Snowden was on the plane. | David Choquehuanca denied that Mr Snowden was on the plane. |
| France and Portugal reportedly refused to allow the Bolivia-bound flight to cross their airspace. | |
| Mr Snowden is seeking asylum in several countries to avoid extradition to the US for leaking intelligence secrets. | Mr Snowden is seeking asylum in several countries to avoid extradition to the US for leaking intelligence secrets. |
| Asylum requests | |
| Mr Choquehuanca told reporters on Tuesday that France and Portugal had closed their airspace over the "huge lie" that Mr Snowden was on board. | |
| "We don't know who invented this lie, but we want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales," he said. | |
| The Bolivian president had been on a visit to Moscow, where the former CIA contractor has been holed up in an airport transit area for more than a week. | |
| On Tuesday, eight countries rejected Mr Snowden's asylum requests, including Austria and Spain, with several stating that applicants had to be on their soil. | |
| President Morales told Russian television that Bolivia had not yet received an application from Mr Snowden, however, his request, if sent, would be considered. | |
| "Bolivia is ready to accept people who disclose espionage if one can call it this way," he said. | |
| Mr Morales and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been in Moscow for a meeting of gas-exporting countries. | |
| President Maduro said he had not formally received an asylum request, but expressed support for Mr Snowden, saying he "deserves the world's protection" from the United States. | |
| "Why are they persecuting him? What has he done? Did he launch a missile and kill someone? Did he rig a bomb and kill someone? No. He is preventing war," he told Reuters news agency. | |
| Mr Snowden withdrew his application to Russia after President Vladimir Putin said he could stay on condition that he stopped damaging Russia's "American partners" with his leaks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. | |
| He also confirmed that the 30-year-old had not yet entered Russian territory and was still in the transit area of Sheremetyevo, where he has reportedly stayed since arriving from Hong Kong on 23 June. |