23 June 2013 — RT

The plane carrying whistleblower Edward Snowden has landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The former CIA contractor, who left Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition on espionage charges, is on his way to a ‘third country’ via Russia.

Earlier, a spokesperson from the Hong Kong government confirmed that Edward Snowden had “legally and voluntarily” left the country. 

“Mr. Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel,” said the Hong Kong government in a press release. The statement also said the documents for Snowden’s extradition submitted by Washington “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.” 

“As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for a provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.” 

WikiLeaks legal aid

Whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks has rallied behind Snowden and said they are assisting him in his bid for political asylum in a “democratic country.” The group announced on Twitter that they helped obtain“travel documents” and ensured his safe exit from Hong Kong. A member of the WikiLeaks legal team is also accompanying the NSA leaker on his flight to Moscow.

FLASH: Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 23, 2013

A source from Aeroflot told Interfax that Snowden is on flight SU213 to Moscow, landing on Sunday afternoon. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was unaware of Snowden’s plans to fly to MoscowThe US has filed an extradition order against Snowden for espionage, theft and conversion of government property.

It is understood that Moscow will not be Snowden’s final destination, he could potentially fly on to Ecuador or Iceland where he has allegedly applied for asylum. A diplomatic source told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that no request for asylum in Russia had been received from the former CIA employee. 

Citing a source close to Snowden, Russian news agency Interfax reported that the whistleblower’s final destination will be Venezuela with a transfer in Havana, Cuba.  He will reportedly be on flight SU150 to Havana, leaving Moscow on Monday and then on flight V-04101 to Caracas.

“He chose such a complicated route in the hope that he would not be arrested on the way to his final destination of Venezuela,” the source told Interfax.

‘More whistleblowers will follow’

Whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the world is likely to hear more about the actual state of things says Pepe Escobar, Asia Times correspondent in Hong Kong talking with RT.

“Definitely, we’re going to have a collection of Assanges, Mannings and Snowdens from now on, especially from the US tech geeks who are extremely uncomfortable with this Orwellian panopticon surveillance thing: not only in the US as we’ve seen some revelations on Britain as well. It is an Anglo-American thing. Of course everybody is involved in cyber wars, but the forefront is the US,” Pepe Escobar explains.