No sign of Snowden on Moscow flight for Cuba
Ecuador is considering both Snowden's asylum request and the US position on him
Whistle-blower Edward Snowden did not board a flight to Havana, Cuba, from Moscow where he fled to after leaving Hong Kong on Sunday, said a correspondent on the plane, on Monday evening.
Snowdon was scheduled to leave on Aeroflot flight SU150.
A flight attendant also said Snowden was not on the plane, and the seat he had been expected to occupy was taken by another passenger. A source at Russian carrier Aeroflot, which was operating the flight, said: “He didn’t take the flight.”
He arrived in Moscow on Sunday to seek asylum in Ecuador, after abruptly leaving Hong Kong in a dramatic blow to US efforts to put him on trial for espionage.
Snowden left on a flight for the Russian capital just hours after the United States had asked Hong Kong authorities to detain the 30-year-old and shortly after the release of court documents in the US detailing some of the charges he would face there.
The US has an extradition notice out against the 30-year-old American who has leaked sensitive information about US secret internet spying operations around the world.
Ecuador said on Monday it would consider Snowden's asylum request as a "freedom of expression" issue. Later in the day it said it was also considering a US request related to Snowden and would make a decision in due time.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on a trip in Vietnam that his government would review the request, which it received from the US envoy in Quito.
“We will consider the position of the US government, and we will take a decision in due course in line with the (Ecuadorean) constitution, the laws, international politics and sovereignty,” Patino told a news conference in Hanoi.
Reuters, AFP
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