US President Barack Obama says he will not do any "wheeling, dealing and trading" to secure whistleblower Edward Snowden's extradition. He also said he was not considering sending jets to intercept Mr. Snowden when he eventually leaves Russia.
The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor is understood to still be in a transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.
The 30-year-old fled the US after leaking details of American telephone and internet surveillance programmes and has been charged with spying offences.
Speaking from Senegal, where he is starting a three-country tour of Africa, President Obama sought to downplay the diplomatic tension over Mr. Snowden.
"I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally and the reason is ... number one, I shouldn't have to," President Obama said.
"Number two, we've got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia, and I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues."
Snowden is believed to be in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country will not extradite Mr. Snowden, who flew into the country from Hong Kong on June 23rd.
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.
"Useful discussions" with Russia
President Obama called Mr. Snowden's extradition "not exceptional from a legal perspective" and said the US had had "useful discussions" with Moscow over the matter.
"My continued expectation is that Russia or other countries that have talked about potentially providing Mr Snowden asylum recognise that they are a part of an international community and they should be abiding by international law," President Obama said.
The US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia and President Putin has called him a "free man".
President Obama also told reporters in Senegal that he understands why people are interested in the case.
"I get why it's a fascinating story," he said. "I'm sure there will be a made-for-TV movie somewhere down the line."
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.
The PRISM revelations sparked outcry in the UK when The Guardian reported that the GCHQ eavesdropping agency had been accessing information about British citizens through Prism.
Mr. Snowden originally fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after copying the last set of documents he intended to disclose at the NSA office in Hawaii. Ecuador has said it could take several months to arrive at any asylum decision for Mr. Snowden.
