President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday that a former US spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing US criticisms as “ravings and rubbish”.

His refusal to hand back Edward Snowden risked deepening a rift with the United States that has also sucked in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.

China rejected US criticism for letting Snowden flee the Chinese colony of Hong Kong as “baseless”.

In his first public comments on Snowden since the fugitive flew in on Sunday, Putin said the 30-year-old American was in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, not having gone through passport control, was free to leave and should do so as soon as he could.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador but Quito has said it is still considering the application and the United States is trying to persuade the governments of countries where he might head to hand him over.

“He has not crossed the state’s border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia (of aiding him) are ravings and rubbish,” Putin told a news conference during a visit to Finland.

Making clear Moscow saw no gain in extraditing Snowden, he said: “It’s like giving a baby pig a haircut: there’s a lot of squealing, but there’s little wool.”

“We can hand over foreign citizens to countries with which we have an appropriate international agreement on the extradition of criminals. We don’t have such an agreement with the United States ... Thank God, Mr Snowden committed no crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

His words appeared a direct rebuff to US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking only hours earlier.

“It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United states, but there are standards of behaviour between sovereign nations,” he said in Jeddah.