MOSCOW, July 2 (RAPSI) - NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden had asked for asylum in Russia, but changed his mind after learning about the conditions put forward by Moscow, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"Snowden has indeed requested asylum in Russia," Peskov told reporters. "However, when he learned Russia's conditions for granting his request which President Vladimir Putin laid out on Monday, he abandoned his plans to stay in Russia."

The president said on Monday that Snowden could stay in Russia on condition he discontinue his anti-US activities. Speaking at a press Moscow press conference Monday, he explained, "If he wants to go somewhere [another country] and is accepted, he can. If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our US partners, no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”

"Snowden has no wish to stay in Russia at the present time," Peskov added.

Snowden is reportedly holed up in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport waiting for the Ecuadorean government to respond to his request for asylum.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Snowden's arrival came as a surprise. He added that Russian intelligence services have never worked with the whistleblower.

Snowden dominated international headlines this month after claiming responsibility for leaking top secret documents to The Guardian, detailing the National Security Agency's (NSA) capacity to access the systems of major US companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple. Google, Facebook, and Apple have all denied providing direct or backdoor access to their servers.

After the initial leak, Snowden went on to expose various other types of intelligence, including claims to The Guardian that the NSA had intercepted communications from Medvedev's delegation during the 2009 G20 summit in London, as well as claims during an interview with the South China Morning Post that the United States had been hacking into Chinese computers for years.

On June 14, the US authorities filed a criminal complaint advancing three charges, each carrying a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. He has been charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and the willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors.