Ecuador confirms it cut off Julian Assange's internet access

Ecuador's government has confirmed that it has "temporarily restricted" Julian Assange's internet access, ending speculation over who exactly pulled the plug on the WikiLeaks founder's connection at the country's embassy in London.

In an official statement Tuesday, it said that while it stands by its decision to grant him asylum (and a home for the last four years), it doesn't interfere with foreign elections -- a reference to the regular email dumps targeting the Democrats and Hillary Clinton that WikiLeaks has been putting out over the past few months.

President Rafael Correa's government added that it was acting on its own and not ceding to foreign pressures, the Associated Press reports.

"The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states," it said a statement posted Tuesday. "It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate."

"Accordingly, Ecuador has exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications networks within its Embassy in the United Kingdom. This temporary restriction does not prevent the WikiLeaks organization from carrying out its journalistic activities."

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Wikileaks had already accused Ecuador of cutting the cord Monday. "We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange's internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton's Goldman Sachs (speeches)," the group said in a message posted to Twitter.

In follow-up messages posted Tuesday, the group claimed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had personally intervened to ask Ecuador to stop Assange from publishing documents about Clinton.

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Citing "multiple US sources," WikiLeaks said the request was made on the sidelines of negotiations which took place last month in Colombia. The State Department denied the allegation.

"While our concerns about Wikileaks are longstanding, any suggestion that Secretary Kerry or the State Department were involved in shutting down Wikileaks is false," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in an email, the Associated Press reports.

Speaking to reporters later, deputy spokesman Mark Toner said Kerry never even raised the issue or met with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa during his visit to Colombia."There just was no meeting," he said. "They didn't discuss any of this stuff."

Wikileaks has said it has "contingency plans" in place and released more emails Tuesday -- the 11th batch of emails from Clinton advisor John Podesta.

Assange has been living at the embassy for over four years, having first entered its doors in June 2012. He skipped bail to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations. British police insist he'll face arrest if he leaves the building.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.