US President Barack Obama and Russian premier Vladimir Putin have ordered their security chiefs to find a way to remove Edward Snowden from a Moscow airport.
Mr. Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor has been on the run since leaking information about the US government secret surveillance programmes to The Guardian and The Washington Post in early June.
He initially fled from Hawaii to Hong Kong but was allowed to leave the country after what Hong Kong officials claim was a clerical error on the part of the US government.
Russia has rejected US calls to hand over Snowden, saying that because he remains in Sheremetyevo Airport transit zone he has not officially crossed the Russian border. Therefore, they claim, they are powerless to act.
Both Mr. Putin and Mr Obama have now ordered the heads of the security agencies, the FBI and FSB, to find a solution to the impasse according to the head of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev.
Speaking to the state television channel Rossiya 24 he said "Of course (Putin and Obama) don't have a solution that would work for both sides, so they have ordered the FSB director (Alexander) Bortnikov and FBI director Robert Mueller to keep in constant contact and find solutions."
Last week Mr. Obama said he would not do any "wheeling, dealing and trading" to secure his extradition. He also said he was not considering sending jets to intercept Mr. Snowden when he eventually leaves Russia.
Speaking from Senegal last week, President Obama sought to downplay the diplomatic tension over Mr. Snowden.
The former CIA technician is seeking asylum in Ecuador but the country's government said it has not yet processed his request because he has still to reach one of its diplomatic premises. Another flight left Moscow for Havana today without the whistleblower on board. A connecting flight from Cuba is thought to be his likely route to Ecuador.
Mr. Snowden became a target for US authorities after he revealed the existence of a surveillance system called PRISM that was set up by the NSA to track the use of the internet directly from ISP servers.
The NSA and FBI have said that the secret programme provided "critical leads" in preventing "dozens of terrorist events" - although some terror experts dispute the claims.
