12/07/2013 10:03
Edward Snowden is again missed at Moscow-Havana flight - Aeroflot staff
An Aeroflot plane en route from Moscow to Havana has deviated from its course. The news has sparked online speculation that NSA leaker Edward Snowden may be aboard the aircraft. Upon arrival in the Cuban capital, crew members told reporters that Snowden was not on board the flight.
Aeroflot flight 150 to Havana took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport at 14:10 pm Moscow time (10:10 GMT) on Thursday. Whistleblower Edward Snowden has been holed up in the airport for the past two weeks.
The flight route usually passes over Scandinavia and across Greenland before turning south over Canada and the United States. However, this time the flight headed west across Europe before continuing its path over the Atlantic Ocean.
The detour has spawned speculation in the media and on Twitter that Snowden may be aboard the plane and that that the plane may be trying to avoid entering US airspace. Snowden is wanted in the US on charges of espionage for revealing secret NSA surveillance programs.
Venezuela has still not received a formal response to its offer of asylum to former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said on Thursday.
"We communicated last week, we made an offer and so far we haven't received a reply," Jaua said on the sidelines of a regional foreign ministers' meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Venezuela along with leftist allies Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Snowden, who is wanted by Washington on espionage charges for divulging details of extensive, secret U.S. surveillance programs.
Snowden’s American passport was annulled, because the U.S. authorities accuse him of disclosure of classified intelligence information, and demand his extradition.
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