Ecuador president Rafael Correa/via Flickr Creative Commons

A White House spokesperson confirmed the conversation between Biden and Correa on Saturday, but would not disclose the nature of the discussion.

Correa said during his televised weekly address that Ecuador had not yet made a decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum.

"If he arrives," Correa said, "the first thing is we'll ask the opinion of the United States, as we did in the Assange case with England." Ecuadorian officials have said that they will not make a decision on Snowden's asylum until he arrives on Ecuadorian soil.

"But the decision is ours to make," insisted Correa, who has been a major critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Bilateral relations between the two countries have been strained over recent years, as Correa has sought to align Ecuador with other leftist anti-U.S. countries in the region, including Venezuela and Cuba.

Correa also pointed to the "clear double standard" of the U.S., who has rejected Ecuador's extradition request for two Ecuadorian bankers convicted in a fraud case.  The U.S. has rejected the request, saying Ecuador has not provided probable cause.

Edward Snowden, the admitted leaker of secret U.S. communications surveillance programs by the NSA, is believed to still be in Moscow's Sheremetievo airport in a transit terminal after arriving from Hong Kong last weekend.  He missed a flight bound for Havana, Cuba earlier in the week.

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