The White House said Wednesday that it was seeking clarity from the Russian authorities about the status of Edward Snowden, a fugitive American intelligence leaker marooned in the transit area of a Moscow airport for the past month.

Spokesman Jay Carney was responding to conflicting accounts of Snowden's status, in which the 30-year-old former intelligence contractor was said to leave the transit zone on Wednesday after receiving the papers needed for further travel, a claim dismissed later by his lawyer.

"We are seeking clarity from Russian authorities about Mr. Snowden's status and any change in it," he told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Galesburg, Illinois.

"But beyond that, I don't have any more information," he said, repeating Washington's position that there is "ample precedent and legal justification" for Moscow to hand over Snowden to face charges in the United States for "unauthorized leaking of highly classified information."

"Obviously, any move that would allow Mr. Snowden to depart the airport would be deeply disappointing," said Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman.

She said Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday morning, telling him Russia "still has the ability to do the right thing."

The U.S. revoked Snowden's passport following his disclosure in early June of massive secret phone and Internet surveillance programs of the U.S. National Security Agency.

Snowden arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on June 23, and filed an official request for temporary asylum in Russia on July 16. His case has clouded U.S.-Russian relations despite claims by both countries to the contrary.

Carney still refused to say whether President Barack Obama will have a summit as planned with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he travels to Russia in September for the Group of 20 ( G20) meeting in St. Petersburg.

"The president intends to travel to Russia for the G20 summit, and as I've noted in the past, I have no further announcements to make about that travel," Carney said.

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