US to penalise any nation offering Snowden asylum

US sanctions against any country offering asylum to Edward Snowden have advanced in Congress as the 30-year-old National Security Agency leaker remained in a Moscow airport while Russia weighed a request for him to stay permanently.

The measure introduced by Republican senator Lindsey Graham demands the state department co-ordinate with politicians on setting penalties against nations that seek to help Snowden avoid extradition to the US. Authorities there want him prosecuted for revealing details of the government’s massive surveillance system.

The Senate appropriations committee approved the proposal unanimously by voice vote as an amendment to next year’s $50.6bn (€38bn) diplomacy and international aid bill.

“I don’t know if he’s getting a change of clothes. I don’t know if he’s going to stay in Russia forever. I don’t know where he’s going to go,” Graham said. “But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he’s allegedly committed.”

Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua have offered Snowden asylum since his arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport a month ago, shortly after identifying himself as the source of a series of news reports outlining the NSA’s programme to monitor internet and telephone communications.

It was believed he would then fly to Cuba. The US cancelled his passport, stranding him, with Russia yet to authorise his request for temporary asylum or allow him to fly on to another destination.

Snowden wants permission to stay in Russia, his lawyer said. It is unclear how long the Kremlin will take to decide on the asylum request

Graham said Snowden’s revelations have had “incredibly disturbing” implications for national security.

The Obama administration says the surveillance has foiled a number of terrorist plots against the US. It says the public outing of its programmes are helping terrorist groups change tactics.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the US was “seeking clarity” about Snowden’s status.

The head of the Senate foreign relations committee, senator Robert Menendez, warned that “providing any refuge to Edward Snowden will be harmful to US-Russia relations.”