The US immediately charged him under the Espionage Act and attempted to track Snowden down. On June 23 Snowden left Hong Kong on a flight to Moscow. The US had issued extradition papers for him to be returned from Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong government said the documents submitted by the US did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law" and it had no legal basis to prevent him leaving.
The amount of pressure exerted by the US on countries to get hold of Snowden is shown in documents seen by Norwegian broadcaster NRK. One note, dated June 27, 2013, reads: "We request that should US citizen Edward J. Snowden attempt to enter Norway through any means, the Government of Norway notify the Embassy immediately and effectuate the return of Mr. Snowden to the United States by way of denial of entry, deportation, expulsion or other lawful means."
The US asked Norway to arrest and extradite #EdwardSnowden newly revealed documents show http://t.co/uifcZyGyEb [incl docs]
— Øyvind Bye Skille (@Byeskille) August 27, 2015
The documents also show how desperate the US was to get hold of Snowden's computer and associated equipment. "The Embassy requests the seizure of all articles acquired as a result of the offenses… This includes, but is not limited to, all computer devices, electronic storage devices and other sorts of electronic media," the documents show.
Snowden's legal adviser Ben Wizner told NRK:
"I have not seen these documents before. I am aware that they exist in some countries — for example Germany."
In the end, Snowden's request for asylum was turned down by Norway and Snowden was eventually allowed out of the Moscow airport and given temporary asylum in Russia.
