UK, Ecuador fail to break deadlock over Julian Assange

Talks between Britain and Ecuador ended with no breakthrough over Julian Assange, the British foreign office said on Monday, nearly a year after the WikiLeaks founder fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Talks between Britain and Ecuador ended with no breakthrough over Julian Assange, the British foreign office said on Monday, nearly a year after the WikiLeaks founder fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden.

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But foreign secretary William Hague and his Ecuadorean counterpart, Ricardo Patino, agreed to establish a working group to try to resolve the diplomatic standoff.

“The two ministers held a bilateral meeting this morning for 45 minutes,” the foreign office said in a statement.

“Ministers agreed that officials should establish a working group to find a diplomatic solution to the issue of Julian Assange, but no substantive progress was made.”

The Foreign Office said any solution would have to fall within the law of the United Kingdom.

Patino, who is on a visit to Britain, met Assange at the South American country’s central London embassy on Sunday.