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Plane Leaves Moscow for Havana Without Snowden Obama Seeks to Play Down Snowden’s Importance
(about 3 hours later)
MOSCOW — A flight from Moscow to Havana departed Thursday afternoon without any sign of Edward J. Snowden, the former security contractor wanted in the United States, aboard, raising the possibility that his four-day stay in the legal limbo of a Moscow airport transit area — meant to be a stopover on his way to a third country — could stretch into weeks. MOSCOW — President Obama sought Thursday to minimize the significance of a fugitive former national security contractor wanted for leaking government secrets, calling him a “29-year-old hacker” and suggesting that American frustration with China and Russia for apparently helping him evade extradition was not worth damaging relations with those countries.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said two days earlier, “The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better for us and for him,” a comment that may have ratcheted up pressure on Mr. Snowden to leave. An extended stay would also seem to narrow Mr. Snowden’s options, allowing American officials to dangle carrots and sticks before countries like Ecuador and Venezuela that are considering granting him asylum. Mr. Obama’s remarks — his most extensive comments on the fugitive, Edward J. Snowden — came as new confusion swirled over Mr. Snowden’s ultimate destination, with Ecuador’s government issuing conflicting information over whether it had given him an authorized document of safe passage to travel to that country, where he is seeking asylum.
A buzz of suspense surrounded Flight 150 to Havana on Thursday. Cuba has been reported as the next stop in the odyssey of Mr. Snowden, who fled Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday, frustrating American officials seeking his extradition. Mr. Snowden, who turned 30 last week, has been ensconced out of sight at a Moscow airport international transit lounge since Sunday, when he arrived from Hong Kong despite an American effort to extradite him on criminal charges. There had been speculation that he would board a Havana-bound flight on Thursday but he did not, raising the possibility that his legal limbo could stretch into weeks in his odyssey to reach a third country.
But there were no unusual security measures visible as passengers boarded the Havana flight, with two dozen reporters and photographers pressed against the terminal window as the plane backed away from the gate. Journalists from Reuters and ABC, who had booked tickets in hopes of interviewing Mr. Snowden, said it appeared that he was not on board. Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters in Dakar, Senegal, at the start of an Africa trip, said he had not personally called the presidents of China or Russia on the Snowden case because he did not want to elevate its importance. He said other nations should simply be willing to return Mr. Snowden to the United States as a matter of law enforcement.
Mr. Snowden, 30, whose revelations of American surveillance activities abroad have angered the Obama administration and raised a debate about governmental invasion of privacy, remained out of sight. His successful effort, so far, to elude American prosecution has created new tensions with Russia and China just as the Obama administration has been seeking to improve relations with both countries.
President Obama, speaking at a news conference on Thursday in Dakar, Senegal, the first stop on his Africa trip, said he had not personally called the presidents of China or Russia because he did not want to elevate the importance of Mr. Snowden’s case. He said other nations should simply be willing to return Mr. Snowden to the United States as a matter of course.
“This is something that routinely is dealt with,” Mr. Obama said. “This is not exceptional from a legal perspective. I’m not going to have one case suddenly being elevated to the point where I have to do wheeling and dealing and trading.”“This is something that routinely is dealt with,” Mr. Obama said. “This is not exceptional from a legal perspective. I’m not going to have one case suddenly being elevated to the point where I have to do wheeling and dealing and trading.”
Asked whether he would order the military to intercept any plane that might be transporting Mr. Snowden, Mr. Obama said he would not. He rejected the suggestion that he might order the military to intercept any plane that might be carrying Mr. Snowden. “I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Snowden’s delayed departure from Moscow may be related to negotiations over his asylum application. Mr. Snowden’s disclosures of American surveillance abroad have embarrassed the administration and raised debate about the government’s invasion of privacy. Mr. Snowden and his supporters, including WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group, have called him a whistle-blower and a hero. Federal prosecutors have charged him with violating espionage laws, and some American legislators have called him a traitor.
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, suggested at a news conference in Malaysia on Wednesday that his government could take months to decide whether to grant Mr. Snowden’s asylum request, and that his country’s relations with the United States would figure in that decision. Later he said the comments had been misconstrued by reporters, and that the decision “could be settled in a day, a week, or, as with Assange, it could take two months.” He was referring to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been given refuge for the last year in Ecuador’s embassy in London. Ecuador, which is protecting the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, at its London embassy, has confirmed that Mr. Snowden has requested asylum and has suggested he is a victim of human rights abuses by the United States. But Ecuador also has said the application process could take months.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, appeared on television on Wednesday saying that Venezuela had not received an application from Mr. Snowden, but that it would consider granting it. Adding to the legal questions of his asylum request, government officials in Quito said Thursday that Ecuador had not authorized any travel documents to be given to Mr. Snowden, whose passport has been revoked by the United States. Their assertions appeared to contradict Mr. Assange’s statements earlier this week that Mr. Assange had been given a passage of safe travel.
“We say and advocate that someone in the world should stand with this young man and protect him,” Mr. Maduro said during an official visit to Haiti. “The government of Ecuador has not authorized the issuance of any safe-conduct or refugee document that would permit Mr. Snowden to travel to our country,” Betty Tola, the secretary of political affairs, told a news conference in Quito.
It was unclear how Ecuador’s deliberations could affect Mr. Snowden in his effort to stay ahead of his American pursuers, who revoked his passport and sought to have him arrested in Hong Kong on charges of violating espionage laws before he fled on Sunday on a flight to Moscow. WikiLeaks, which is assisting Mr. Snowden, has said Ecuador issued him special travel papers and that country is his ultimate destination. Russian officials have said they consider Mr. Snowden a free man and have hinted they are pressuring him to leave. President Vladimir V. Putin said Tuesday that “the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better for us and for him.”

Michael D. Shear contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal; Rick Gladstone from New York; and Andrew Roth from Moscow.

An extended stay in Russia would also seem to narrow Mr. Snowden’s options, allowing American officials to dangle carrots and sticks before countries like Ecuador and Venezuela that are considering granting him asylum.
A buzz of suspense surrounded Flight 150 to Havana on Thursday at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, with expectations that Mr. Snowden would be a passenger.
But there were no unusual security measures visible as passengers boarded the Havana flight, with two dozen reporters and photographers pressed against the terminal window as the plane backed away from the gate. Journalists from Reuters and ABC, who had booked tickets in hopes of interviewing Mr. Snowden, said it appeared that he was not on board.

Ellen Barry reported from Moscow, Michael D. Shear from Dakar, Senegal, and Rick Gladstone from New York. William Neuman contributed reporting from Quito, Ecuador, and Andrew Roth from Moscow.