Obama refuses to barter for Edward Snowden 27 June 2013 Last updated at 15:26 President Obama "not going to be scrambling jets to get Snowden" President Barack Obama has said there will be no "wheeling and dealing" as part of extradition efforts against US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Speaking on a visit to the West African nation of Senegal, Mr Obama also said the case would be dealt with through routine legal channels. "I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," he added. Mr Snowden, who faces espionage charges, flew to Moscow last weekend and requested asylum in Ecuador. Mr Obama said on Thursday that he had not called China and Russia's presidents about the case, adding: "I shouldn't have to." Damage done He told a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar: "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." The BBC's Steve Rosenberg is at Moscow airport looking for Edward Snowden He added: "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." Mr Obama said the case highlighted significant vulnerabilities at the National Security Agency, the US electronic spying organisation where Mr Snowden worked as a contractor until last month. "In terms of US interests, the damage was done with respect to the initial leaks," he said. But the American president said he was still interested in a "healthy, effective debate" about striking the right balance between privacy and security. He was speaking on the first leg of an African tour that will also take in South Africa and Tanzania. He will not visit Kenya, where his father was born, amid US concern over allegations that country's president fomented election violence. Meanwhile, Ecuador's government said on Thursday that it had not processed Mr Snowden's asylum request because he had not reached any of its diplomatic premises. Ecuador also renounced a $23m (£15m) trade relationship it has with the US, saying its forthcoming renewal would not influence any decision on Mr Snowden's case. "Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests," said government spokesman Fernando Alvarado. He also made an apparently tongue-in-cheek offer of economic aid to the US for human rights training. The remarks come a day after the chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, Robert Menendez, proposed punishing Ecuador economically by ending the trade agreement if it offered asylum to Mr Snowden. Hypocritical The American is wanted for leaking to the media that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data under a surveillance programme known as Prism. He fled to Hong Kong on 20 May before flying to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday. Both nations deny the charges. On Thursday, Beijing accused the US of "double standards" and hypocrisy on cyber security. China's defence ministry said the Prism programme "has revealed the concerned country's true face and hypocritical behaviour." Although Russia has no extradition treaty with the US, Washington says it wants Moscow to extradite Mr Snowden without delay. But Russia said the American, who turned 30 last week, was technically not yet under its jurisdiction because he had not passed through immigration. Russia has denied reports that its secret police have questioned Mr Snowden, who has had his US passport revoked. Venezuela has also said it would consider an asylum application from him.