[Christiane Amanpour, Cnn:] Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. Here's what we know about Edward Snowden right now, the self-confessed National Security Agency leaker. On Sunday he was seen on a plane from Hong Kong to Moscow. Beyond that, nothing is completely clear. The White House, which wants him brought to justice, says that it assumes he's still in Russia and reports from there say he's possibly at the Moscow airport transit area. Snowden had checked in for an Aeroflot flight to Havana. Several journalists made the flight; apparently Snowden did not. Of course, he could be on a later flight; we just don't know. There's no love lost between Presidents Putin and Obama and this has been an opportunity for Moscow to poke the U.S. in the eye again. As for China, which let Snowden leave from Hong Kong, his allegations of U.S. surveillance on China was a propaganda coup against U.S. complaints of Chinese cyber-hacking. And as for Snowden's final stop, well, presumed final stop, Ecuador says that it's considering his request for asylum. And in a press conference from Hanoi, the foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, lashed out at the United States.
[Ricardo Patino, Foreign Minister, Ecuador:] In the last few days, there have been mentioned the words treason. We will have to ask who has betrayed who.
[Amanpour:] So neither Ecuador nor the other transit countries we mentioned are friends of the United States, nor are they friends of freedom of the press. In a moment, I'll speak to Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, about the Snowden affair and, of course, other matters. But first to CNN's Paula Newton, who's in Ecuador's capital, Quito, which now finds itself the center of a political storm. Paula, what is the reaction there to people, now that they know that he has decided to try to come over to there?
[Paula Newton, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, I think at this point ambivalence is the best thing that you could say. That's not to say there are not strong reactions on either side. But having said that, people here taking a wait-and-see attitude, they want to know what this does for Ecuador and what it does for the country's reputation and, quite frankly, Christiane, the country's finances. Having said that, you know, Ecuador is part of a long list of countries, a good handful right now, that like nothing better than to thumb their nose at the United States and by doing this they certainly have put themselves on the map. The Ecuadoran government making it very clear that, look, we are considering this request for his refugee status, for him to have that landed in refugee status here in Ecuador on the basis that he would prosecuted if he entered the United States. Christiane?
[Amanpour:] Well, Paula, like you are all going to be waiting to see what his final destination is. Thank you. And Britain's foreign secretary William Hague has some experience with these kinds of cases because WikiLeaks' Julian Assange was also wanted by the U.S. for leaked secrets. He's holed up at the Ecuador embassy in London. I spoke to Hague from the United Nations, where he's chairing a major debate on violence against women in war. We spoke about all these issues, including what the West has decided if anything to do about helping the Syrian opposition level the battlefield. Foreign Secretary, thank you very much for joining me.
[William Hague, Foreign Secretary Of Great Britain:] It's a pleasure.
[Amanpour:] Obviously the United States is extremely worried about the secrets that have been leaked. They're concerned also that maybe even China or Russia had an opportunity to somehow download the computers he's carrying. Are you concerned about that information getting out?
[Hague:] Well, I'm not going to comment on any of the detail of leaked information or whether it's true or false or therefore any degree of concern about it. I will say that said in our Parliament that everything that we do takes place at a very strong legal framework. That's the position in the United States as well. We have two of the strongest frameworks of law and accountability of any countries in the world, for what we do on intelligence matters.
[Amanpour:] All right. Well, let's move on to Syria. There was a Friends of Syria meeting over the weekend, foreign ministers from the group were in Qatar. And of course there is a notion that perhaps the United States will start arming in some way the rebels. I want to ask from Britain's point of view, your prime minister has been very forward-leaning so have you on the need to do something and yet I hear that the security establishment in Britain is not in favor of arming the Syrian opposition on the ground. What kind of a dilemma does that pose for the British government?
[Hague:] Well, let's forget, we are in favor of giving assistance and more assistance to the Syrian opposition, to the national coalition, what we might call the democratic, sensible opposition in Syria, and we're doing that in many ways. We give an enormous amount of humanitarian assistance. We're sending them, at the moment, equipment that save lives. We're sending body armor. We're sending vehicles that are bulletproofed. We're sending communications equipment, water purification equipment and things of this kind. So the U.K. is already committed to give that support and to increase that support over the coming months. And at the Friends of Syria meeting, which I attended in Doha, there were 11 countries there who give their assistance in different ways. And this is the way that we're doing it at the moment in the United Kingdom.
[Amanpour:] Well, then, let me ask you a direct question. Will Britain arm the rebels, the moderates that you have just talked about right now, you're obviously instrumental in getting the E.U. to lift the arms embargo. Will you arm them?
[Hague:] We haven't taken any decision about that, is the answer to that. I was absolutely instrumental in getting the E.U. to lift the arms embargo but also said at the time on that same day that we wouldn't be doing so at this stage and that we hadn't taken any decision to do that. What we wanted to create, as I explained at the time, was flexibility in policy. After all, the European Union has set its sanctions regime for 12 months now. And we want the flexibility over that time to change our policy if necessary. But we haven't taken any decision to do that. We would go to our Parliament with it if we did take such a decision. So we haven't done that. But we are helping in very many other ways. You know, it is not just a question about arms.
[Amanpour:] Except for you clearly want to change the balance of power on the ground. It appears that the West, you, the French, others and the United States have been very well, not surprised, maybe, but don't want to see the Assad regime winning as they did with support from Hezbollah and Iran and Qusayr and perhaps other places. So I just want to ask you to listen to this little bit of an interview with the Free Syrian Army commander. He told me this just a week ago.
[Gen. Salim Idriss, Syrian Oppositioin Forces:] If the balance on the ground doesn't change, there will be no Geneva conference. There will be no peace talks.
[Amanpour:] What is your reaction to that?
[Hague:] Well, I think there are two things to say to that. One is that it's very important for the regime and the opposition to be ready to go to Geneva and for them all to remember that if the Geneva conference takes place, it will be based on what we agree that Geneva [inaudible]. The only thing we really agree that Geneva last year, which is that a transitional government should be created in Syria with full executive authority made up from the regime and the opposition by mutual consent. But I do agree that a political solution requires a better situation on the ground for the opposition. That is what we said together at Doha. I say again that different country among the Friends of Syria will help in different ways. And the United Kingdom is giving a lot of help of the kind that I have described. Clearly there are other countries the United States has spoken about direct military support. And clearly the opposition do receive direct military support from other nations as well.
[Amanpour:] Well, they do indeed. And to that point, I'd like you to react to something that the Syrian foreign minister has said just recently about arming the opposition.
[Walid Moallem, Syrian Foreign Minister:] Technically they'll be arming the Nusra Front. I ask everyone to go and click on the Facebook page of the Nusra Front and see what they boast about. They behead, kill and eat the hearts of their opponents and they publicly post these videos online.
[Amanpour:] Your reaction to the Syrian foreign minister?
[Hague:] We must not fall for the propaganda of the Syrian regime. You know, the problems in Syria did not begin from outside, were not created from outside. This was the people of Syria who many millions of whom clearly want dignity for themselves and their country. They want political freedom. They want economic opportunity, the things they haven't had under the Assad regime. And that is something that people all over the world can identify with and, yes, some terrible things have happened, including on both sides. The most of those things have happened at the hands of the regime that has butchered and tortured tens of thousands of its own people. So we must never fall for the propaganda of a regime that would have us believe that a vast part of the population of their own country are fanatical extremists.
[Amanpour:] And finally, you are in New York at the United Nations as part of your work on behalf of violence against women or combating violence against women. What progress has been made insofar as making rape as a tool of war illegal?
[Hague:] Well, we're making some progress. And I was pleased that this morning we agreed a new resolution of the U.N. Security Council, Resolution 2106, that strengthens the work of the United Nations on this, I think over the last year, we've succeeded in bringing a lot more global attention on this. The fact that more than 50 countries wanted to speak today here at the United Nations is a really encouraging sign. We've got the G8 nations in April to agree a declaration together. We're now deploying British experts into different parts of the world to help gather evidence of crimes of sexual violence in conflict. So I think this work has begun well over the last year. My ambition is to shift the entire global attitude on these subjects and to shatter the idea of impunity for rape and sexual violence in conflict.
[Amanpour:] Certainly many women will be really pleased to hear that. And what can you say specifically to the women of Afghanistan, who are really terrified once the international forces pull out, particularly if there's some kind of agreement that allows the Taliban any kind of political reemergence in Afghanistan? They're very, very worried about violence and their rights being taken away.
[Hague:] Well, in Afghanistan, as anywhere in the world, women's rights are a fundamental part of human rights and of course, the commitment to those who set out in the Afghan constitution, what we want to see in any peace process is the Taliban turning into violence, break links with Al Qaeda and accept the constitution of Afghanistan. And then it matter how people interpret that and work with that over the years and decades to come. And Afghanistan will be a stronger society and a more peaceful society if women are more heavily involved.
[Amanpour:] Foreign Secretary William Hague, thank you very much for joining me.
[Hague:] Thank you very much indeed.
[Amanpour:] And you can check out our website for Mr. Hague's assessment of the new Iranian president and whether he opens a window for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over the country's nuclear program. And after a break, if Russia plans to use the Snowden affair to raise questions about free expression in America, doesn't that sound a little bit like the pot calling the kettle black? I'll speak to the son of Russia's most famous political prisoner when we return.