Moments ago Edward Snowden landed at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, but since the American citizen has no Russian visa he will remain in the transit zone. And as Reuters reports, we now have some details on his next destinations, at least according to an Interfax source at Aeroflot: first Havana, Cuba, and finally Caracas, Venezuela as had been speculated earlier (although this may well be misdirection). Oddly enough, no Iceland (for now).
From Reuters [9]:
Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then plans to go to Venezuela, a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said on Sunday.
The source said Snowden was already on his way to Moscow from Hong Kong and would leave for Havana within 24 hours.
The South China Morning Post also reported that Snowden had left Hong Kong for Moscow and that his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland. The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said Snowden was heading for an unnamed "democratic nation".
The flight to Moscow prompted speculation that Snowden might remain in Russia, whose leaders accuse the United States of double standards on democracy and have championed public figures who challenge Western governments.
But Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he was unaware of Snowden's plans and the Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment on whether he had asked for asylum.
State-run news agency RIA cited an unnamed law enforcement official as saying Russian authorities had "no claims" against Snowden and that there were no orders to detain him.
Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying Snowden apparently did not have a Russian visa, which U.S. citizens need to enter Russia, and that he might not leave the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
And the picture at Sheremetyevo arrivals hall:
waiting for #Snowden [10] -- a crowd of journos and confused passengers #wikileaks [11] #cia [12] pic.twitter.com/r8vM1RsKXM [13]
— Irina Galushko (@IrinaGalushkoRT) June 23, 2013 [14]