Snowden says he wants Russian asylum FUGITIVE US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has told rights activists he will seek asylum in Russia. It is the 30-year-old's first encounter with the outside world since becoming marooned at a Moscow airport three weeks ago. The Friday meeting at Sheremetyevo airport appeared to be an attempt by Snowden to find a way out of an increasingly difficult situation as he seeks to escape espionage charges for leaking sensational details of widespread US surveillance activities. Participants, including representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, told reporters afterwards Snowden told them he wanted asylum in Russia since he could not fly out of the country without travel documents. They also said he'd vowed not to harm the United States, apparently in response to a key Kremlin condition that he stop leaking damaging information about Washington's spy program. Snowden has been holed up at the airport's transit zone since arriving on a flight from Hong Kong on June 23 before his US passport was revoked. Human Rights Watch representative Tanya Lokshina told reporters Snowden said "he wants to stay here." He has applied for asylum in 21 countries. Moscow said last week Snowden had withdrawn his application for asylum in Russia after learning it was conditional on not harming US interests. "As far as I understand, he is seriously ready to obtain political asylum in Russia," ruling party lawmaker Vyacheslav Nikonov, who also attended the meeting, said. The Kremlin swiftly responded, saying Snowden could stay if he stops revealing confidential US information. "Mr Snowden could hypothetically stay in Russia if he: first, completely stops the activities harming our American partners and US-Russian relations and second, if he asks for this himself," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The powerful speaker of the Russian lower house, Sergei Naryshkin, told state television Russia should grant Snowden asylum, describing him as a "defender of human rights." According to lawyer Genri Reznik who was present at the meeting, Snowden "promised that he would not act to harm the United States." In a picture of the meeting, Snowden, wearing a grey shirt, looked healthy and calm as he sat at a desk flanked by two women, one of whom was WikiLeaks employee Sarah Harrison, who arrived with him from Hong Kong.