Plane Believed To Be Carrying Snowden Lands In Moscow

An Aeroflot plane believed to be carrying former U.S. spy agency contractorEdward Snowden lands in Moscow.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 23, 2013)  (REUTERS) -  An Aeroflot plane en route from Hong Kong, believed to be carrying former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday (June 23).

Snowden, who is wanted by Washington after leaking details about U.S. surveillance, stayed out of sight after the plane he was believed to be on landed atMoscow's Sheremetyevo airport.A source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said Snowden would fly to Cuba on Monday and was expected to go on to Venezuela, although Ecuador later said he had asked it for asylum.

Passengers arriving from Hong Kong said he may have been whisked away from the runway by waiting cars, initially prompting speculation he may spend the night in a foreign embassy in the Russian capital.

But a source at an airport hotel said he had spotted Snowden there and Ecuador's ambassador to Russia, Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala, later spent several minutes inside the building.

The envoy told reporters as he went in that he expected to have talks with Snowden and Sarah Harrison, a representative of the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group.

Ecuador later confirmed it had received an asylum request from Snowden but the ambassador declined to give more details and did not make clear if Snowden was inside the hotel.

There was speculation in Moscow earlier on Sunday that Snowden might seek to stay 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.

Alexei Pushkov, head of the lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee, said it was not clear whether Moscow might offer Snowden asylum - a move that could cause further friction in already frayed relations with Washington.