In a brief comment on his Twitter account, Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said simply: “The government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward Snowden.”
 
Although Patino gave no indication of whether the government of President Rafael Correa would grant the request, he had said previously that the government would consider such a request. 

 A Russian foreign ministry official in Moscow, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times: “Snowden has not left the airport transit zone where he is still holding consultations with Ecuadorian diplomats. He intends to stay there until his flight to Cuba Monday, from where he is bound for Caracas,” the capital of Venezuela.

The official didn't know whether Snowden's ultimate destination was Ecuador, but there are no direct flights to Quito from Moscow, so he could be planning to transfer in Caracas.

Meanwhile, the Wikileaks organization issued a statement on its website saying it was helping Snowden get to Ecuador. "He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks," the statement said.]

There has been speculation that he might seek asylum in Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba or Iceland.