MOSCOW — Edward Snowden said Friday that he has no regrets over leaking details about U.S. electronic spying networks and is seeking temporary asylum in Russia until he can reach one of the Latin American countries that has offered to take him in.

"That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets," he told a group of human rights activists and other public officials at a meeting at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he has taken refuge since June 23.

The 30-year-old former defense contractor, who fled first to Hong Kong and then Russia, said he did what he believes was right to go public with information on the National Security Agency's surveillance and data-gathering networks in an effort to "correct this wrongdoing."