Snowden just latest in list of figures trapped in transit limbo
Whistle-blower's plight follows a path familiar to fugitives stuck in transit with nowhere to go, sometimes waiting for years for asylum
Amid the thousands of people passing through Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Edward Snowden is – if Russia’s government is to be believed – staying put. That makes his situation unusual, but for all its extraordinary elements of intrigue, it’s not unique.
The former National Security Agency contractor who leaked US surveillance secrets is not the first person to be stranded in the legally ambiguous zone between the arrivals gate and the immigration desks of an international airport.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Snowden is in the airport’s transit area after flying in from Hong Kong on Sunday. Authorities in Moscow say he is not officially in Russia and is free to leave.
Here, it’s not life. It’s just staying like a passenger and waiting for departure. To be here is just like being in transit
But US officials have issued a warrant for his arrest and have revoked his passport – meaning that there are few places he can go.
Snowden could end up joining the roster of unwilling airport residents whose ordeals, suspended between states, have stretched on for months or even years.
Putin said on Tuesday that Snowden has not passed through Russian immigration, so he is not technically in Russia.