Edward Snowden is surprised he's still in Russia and blames the State Department for him being there. The NSA leaker said so in a clip from his interview with Brian Williams that aired on Wednesday's Today.

"The reality is I never intended to end up in Russia," Snowden explained. "I had a flight booked to Cuba onward to Latin America, and I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoke my passport and trap me in Moscow Airport. So when people ask 'Why are you in Russia?' I say, 'Please ask the State Department.' "

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Secretary of State John Kerry hit back at Snowden's comments in a live interview on the Wednesday edition of the NBC morning show, saying Snowden can return to the U.S. whenever he wants.

"For a supposedly smart guy, that's a pretty dumb answer, frankly," Kerry said. "If Mr. Snowden wants to come back to the United States today, we'll have him on a flight today. We'd be delighted for him to come back. He should come back. That's what a patriot would do. A patriot would not run away and look for refuge in Russia or Cuba or some other country. A patriot would stand up in the United States and make his case to the American people. He can come home, but he's a fugitive from justice, which is why he is not being permitted to fly around the world."

Kerry added that Snowden should trust the U.S. justice system and says the NSA leaker "stole" information and did "great damage" to the United States.

"But to be hiding in Russia, an authoritarian country, and to have just admitted he was really just trying to get to Cuba -- what does that tell you?" Kerry said. "I think he's confused. I think it's very sad."

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Later Wednesday night when the full interview aired on NBC News, Snowden told Williams that he was "trained as a spy."

"I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover overseas -- pretending to work in a job that I'm not -- and even being assigned a name that was not mine," Snowden said in his first with a U.S. television network.

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Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams U.S. Government 'Trap[ped]' Him in Moscow (Video)

Former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden was given the Carl von Ossietzky award in Berlin on Sunday, a medal which honors those who exhibit extraordinary civic courage or commitment to the spread and defense of human rights.

According to website of the International League for Human Rights in Berlin, which has awarded the prize since 1962, Snowden was chosen because of his "momentous decision of conscience ... to put [his] personal freedom on the line" to expose the "abuse of power" exercised by the US and Germany.

Snowden shares the medal with Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who broke his story, along with Laura Poitras, the documentary filmmaker who was in Berlin to accept it on the whole trio's behalf. Snowden is living in Russia under temporary asylum and is barred from entering Germany.

Several speeches were given honoring the work of Snowden, Greenwald and Poitras, including one from former federal Interior Minister Gerhart Baum and human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck, who represents Snowden. Baum spoke of how the Snowden had "opened our eyes to the largest intelligence surveillance scandal I know."

On Friday, Kaleck was reported by The Guardian, a British news outlet, as calling on European countries to actively prosecute CIA agents involved in torture who come into their countries, following the release of the CIA torture report.

Snowden, who is held in high esteem in many circles in Germany, also appeared via Skype.

Carl von Ossietzky, determined dissident

The von Ossietzky medal is named after the German Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist who spoke out actively against the Nazi regime. He died as a result of conditions in the concentration camp where he was held, after being convicted of high treason. It was he who exposed Germany's violation of the Treaty of Versailles through its re-militarization under Adolf Hitler.

Former winners of the medal include famous German authors Heinrich Bll and Gnter Grass.

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Edward Snowden gets human rights award in Berlin

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Brian Williams

NBC News' Brian Williams has bookedEdward Snowden's first U.S. television interview, the network said on Thursday.

Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked government surveillance documents, has previously given interviews to a German broadcaster and delivered an address via satellite at the South by Southwest festival.

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In April, he also appeared on Russia Today in a prerecorded clip asking questions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Snowden has not, however, sat down with a U.S. broadcaster since his video remarks to The Guardian were first posted in July 2013. He has given interviews to U.S. newspapers including The New York Timesand the Washington Post since the story broke.

Williams interviewed Snowden in Moscow for "several hours" this week, NBC said, for an hourlong special to air at 10 p.m. on May 28.

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NBC News' Brian Williams Lands Edward Snowden Interview