A former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing highly classified surveillance programs was believed to have landed in Russia on Sunday \u2013 possibly as a stopover before traveling elsewhere \u2013 after being allowed to leave Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Edward Snowden was on an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow shortly after 5 p.m. (1300gmt) Sunday and was booked on a flight to fly to Cuba on Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials. The reports said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. There was also speculation that he might try to reach Ecuador.<\/p>\n
The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said it was working with him and that he was bound for an unnamed \u201cdemocratic nation via a safe route for the purpose of asylum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snowden did not leave Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport with the other passengers and was not seen by a crowd of journalists waiting in the arrivals lounge. Interfax reported that he was spending the night in the transit zone of the airport because he did not have a visa to enter Russia and had rented a room in a capsule hotel.<\/p>\n
The car of Ecuador\u2019s ambassador to Russia was parked outside the airport, spurring the speculation that Snowden intended to seek asylum in the Latin American country. But in Ecuador, a high-ranking source at the presidency said there was no information about whether Snowden would seek asylum there. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak on the issue.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said last week that if Snowden asked for asylum, Ecuador would study the request.<\/p>\n
Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs. WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.<\/p>\n
WikiLeaks\u2019 founder, Julian Assange, who has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations, told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.<\/p>\n
The White House said President Barack Obama has been briefed on Sunday\u2019s developments by his national security advisers.<\/p>\n
Snowden\u2019s departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and gave a pointed warning to Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The Department of Justice said only that it would \u201ccontinue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong government said in a statement that Snowden left \u201con his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel.\u201d<\/p>\n
It acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did not \u201cfully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.\u201d It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government \u201chas yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said Hong Kong had informed the U.S. of Snowden\u2019s departure. It added that it wanted more information about alleged hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies which Snowden had revealed.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong\u2019s decision to let Snowden go on a technicality appears to be a pragmatic move aimed at avoiding a drawn out extradition battle. The action swiftly eliminates a geopolitical headache that could have left Hong Kong facing pressure from both Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has a high degree of autonomy and is granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China, but under the city\u2019s mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.<\/p>\n
Russian officials have given no indication that they have any interest in detaining Snowden or any grounds to do so. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia would be willing to consider granting asylum if Snowden were to make such a request.<\/p>\n
Russia and the United States have no extradition treaty that would oblige Russia to hand over a U.S. citizen at Washington\u2019s request.<\/p>\n
The Cuban government had no comment on Snowden\u2019s movements or reports he might use Havana as a transit point.<\/p>\n
The Obama administration on Saturday warned Hong Kong against delaying Snowden\u2019s extradition, with White House national security adviser Tom Donilon saying in an interview with CBS News, \u201cHong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Ratner, Assange\u2019s lawyer, said he didn\u2019t know Snowden\u2019s final destination, but that his options were not numerous. \u201cYou have to have a country that\u2019s going to stand up to the United States,\u201d Ratner said. \u201cYou\u2019re not talking about a huge range of countries here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratner added that a country\u2019s extradition treaty with the U.S. is \u201cnot going to be relevant\u201d because the country he ends up going to will likely be one willing to give him a political exemption.<\/p>\n
Snowden\u2019s departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from the former NSA contractor that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation\u2019s cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.<\/p>\n
He told the newspaper that \u201cthe NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data.\u201d It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.<\/p>\n
With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has massive cellphone companies. China Mobile is the world\u2019s largest mobile network carrier with 735 million subscribers, followed by China Unicom with 258 million users and China Telecom with 172 million users.<\/p>\n
Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country\u2019s major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called \u201cnetwork backbones\u201d in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.<\/p>\n
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the reports of Snowden\u2019s departure from Hong Kong to Moscow but did not know the specifics. It said the Chinese central government \u201calways respects\u201d Hong Kong\u2019s \u201chandling of affairs in accordance with law.\u201d The Foreign Ministry also noted that it is \u201cgravely concerned about the recently disclosed cyberattacks by relevant U.S. government agencies against China.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s state-run media have used Snowden\u2019s allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.<\/p>\n
A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden\u2019s disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have \u201cput Washington in a really awkward situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWashington should come clean about its record first. It owes \u2026 an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on,\u201d it said. \u201cIt has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
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