Unidentified 'diplomats' escorting Snowden

Unidentified diplomats are escorting former US intelligence operative Edward Snowden in his bid to secure political asylum in Ecuador, website WikiLeaks said yesterday.
"Mr Edward Snowden … has left Hong Kong legally," WikiLeaks said in a statement.  "He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks."
Snowden, 30, was to head to Venezuela via Cuba after he arrived in Moscow yesterday, Russian media reported earlier.
WikiLeaks, whose founder Julian Assange has spent a year holed up in Ecuador's London embassy, said Snowden's asylum request will be formally processed once he arrives at his final destination.
Earlier, Julian Assange called on the world to "step forward and stand with" Edward Snowden, after the NSA whistleblower was charged with espionage by US federal prosecutors.
In the statement, Assange accuses President Barack Obama of going back on a promise to run a transparent administration and suggests he is the true "traitor" for supposedly betraying a generation of "young, technically minded people" such as Snowden and Bradley Manning.
"The US government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off. It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize, but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice," said Assange.
"The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights. That tactic must not be allowed to work."