The American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is currently in the transit zone of an international airport in Moscow,  can request Russia for asylum, said an official on Thursday.

"It can be considered by the President if Mr. Snowden files such a request," the Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov as saying.

"A person, disclosing secrets concealed by special services, if these secrets are a threat to millions of people ... such a person does deserve political asylum in this or that country," said Mikhail Fedotov.

"I think it will be the right thing to do if they do grant him asylum," said Fedotov, stressing Snowden "must be under the protection of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees throughout this procedure."

Snowden has been holed up in the transit zone since after his flight from Hong Kong following an arrest warrant and extradition demand from the U.S. government.

After Snowden exposed the National Security Agency's surveillance programs of monitoring millions of communications and movements of the people, the U.S. government charged him with espionage and theft of government property.

Washington has expressed outrage against the Russian government for sheltering the whistleblower and warned that any country protecting him will jeopardize relations with the U.S. government.

Hoping that Snowden's case wouldn't paralyze the relationship between the two countries, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there were no grounds for Russia to extradite the American fugitive.

"As far as any sort of extradition is concerned, to wherever it may be, we are only able to hand over citizens of foreign states to those countries with whom we have a corresponding international extradition agreement. We have no such agreement with the United States," said Putin.

Ecuador had confirmed Snowden's asylum request and said it could take weeks to process the appeal.