The White House said Tuesday U. S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden should be expelled and face espionage charges in the United States.

U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden made an official request for temporary asylum in Russia, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said Tuesday.?

White House Spokesman Jay Carney said communications have been exchanged between the U.S. government and the Russian government over Snowden.

"Our interest has always been in seeing him expelled from Russia and returned to the United States," said Carney, noting that Snowden "is not a human rights activist. He is not a dissident."

Snowden is "accused of leaking classified information," he said, "He's been charged with three felony counts related to the leaking of classified information."

Carney didn't comment on how this case would impact U. S.-Russia relations.

Snowden filed an official request for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday after spending three weeks in limbo in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

"They (the U.S. authorities) scared off all other countries, so no one wants to accept him (Snowden). So, in effect, they've blocked him on our territory themselves," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with local students on Monday.

"He has arrived in our territory without invitation, he didn't fly to us, he arrived as a transit passenger to other countries," Putin said.

Putin said that Snowden will leave the country when opportunity emerges.

But he added: "Eventually, he wants to move to a permanent residence in another territory."

"As soon as the opportunity appears to move somewhere, he of course will do that," he said.

When asked to comment on Snowden's future, Putin said, "How can I know that? This is his life and his fate."

Putin also made it clear that Moscow is not going to harm its relations with the United States, and that Snowden could only continue with his human rights activities "without our involvement."

The former U.S. National Security Agency contractor, who has been charged with espionage for revealing the secret U.S. electronic surveillance program Prism, has been caught in legal limbo in the international transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport since he arrived there from Hong Kong on June 23.

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