VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) — Assange, an Australian national, said during the Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week) show on Russia’s Rossiya-1 TV channel:
"The Australian Federal Police found formally that I had committed no crime under Australian law whatsoever, but they tried to cancel my Australian passport just to do a favor to the United States."
Since 2012, the whistleblower has been residing at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, fearing extradition by Swedish authorities to the United States where he could face espionage charges for publishing secret documents.
Snowden initially mulled fleeing to Bolivia, but was prevented from doing so. In July 2013, the plane carrying Bolivia’s President Evo Morales from Moscow back home was grounded in Austria on suspicion it had a whistleblower stove-away. France and Portugal refused to let the plane enter their airspace.
Assange said the hunt was "not based on a legal process, just based on a call from US intelligence. It pointed out how weak Western European countries were that they couldn't stand up for themselves."
The incident prompted a diplomatic scandal, with leaders of Bolivia and other South American nations demanding explanations.
Assange’s lawyer Thomas Olsson told Sputnik in May that Swedish prosecutors were preparing to interview Assange in London after his appeal against the detention order was rejected by the Supreme Court. The interview was cancelled by Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny in mid-June.
"We’ve pushed for that [the meeting] for 5 years now… 7 months later, after she [the Swedish prosecutor] was told by the courts and we made an appointment, and she didn’t turn up, she cancelled [the meeting]," Assange said.
