Fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden said Monday he hoped the British refusal to extradite Julian Assange would mark "the end" of attempts to see the WikiLeaks founder face espionage charges in the United States.

A British court on Monday ruled citing health concerns that Assange should not be extradited to the United States where he is wanted for publishing thousands of classified documents online.

Reacting to the news, former US intelligence contractor Snowden tweeted: "Let this be the end of it."

Snowden is himself wanted in the United States on espionage charges after he leaked information showing that agents from the National Security Agency were collecting telephone records from millions of US citizens.

He has been living in exile in Russia since 2013 and last year announced he intends to become a dual US-Russian citizen.

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