Kerry dubs Snowden traitor; warns Russia & China of tense ties over extradition refusal; Ecuador analysing spy asylum request
agence france-presse
MOSCOW, 24 JUNE: Ex-CIA analyst Mr Edward Snowden today continued his globe-trotting game of cat-and-mouse with US authorities on his tail, reportedly slipping out of Russia on his way to seek asylum in Latin America.
Mr Snowden, who embarrassed US President Barack Obama’s administration with his revelations of massive surveillance programmes, failed to appear on a flight he had apparently booked from Moscow to Cuba.
Russia’s Interfax news agency, known for its strong security contacts, said he was likely already out of the country.
US Secretary of State John Kerry meanwhile dubbed Mr Snowden a traitor to his country and warned both Russia and China that their relations with the USA might be damaged by their refusal to extradite him.
Mr Snowden arrived in Moscow yesterday from Hong Kong, from where he leaked to the media details of secret cyber-espionage programmes by both US and British Intelligence agencies. He was said by Russian officials to have spent the night in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport awaiting his onward connection. He had been expected to take Aeroflot’s 1005 GMT flight today from Moscow to Havana after airline sources confirmed he had checked in.
But the flight left the terminal at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport ~ with a pack of hopeful journalists on board ~ and then took off with no sign that the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor was among the passengers.
Adding to the mystery, he was not once seen in public in the Moscow airport since yesterday’s Aeroflot flight arrived from Hong Kong.  The Interfax news agency quoted a Russian security source and an Aeroflot source saying that he was not on board the flight to Havana.
It quoted another source familiar with the matter as saying: “Snowden, most likely, has already left the Russian Federation. He could have left by a different plane.”  
The IT contractor is the target of a US arrest warrant issued on Friday after he leaked details of the cyber-espionage programmes.  The leaks forced Obama’s administration to defend US Intelligence agencies’ practice of gathering huge amounts of telephone and Internet data from private users around the world.
Ecuador has said it was studying a request Mr Snowden had filed for asylum and he had been widely expected to fly on to Quito from Havana after arriving from Moscow. He and his accompanying party Sarah Harrison, a British national working on the legal team of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, had been checked in on the flight SU 150 to Havana, according to a correspondent who saw the flight roster.
Russian security sources said they had no reason to arrest Mr Snowden, who officials described as an ordinary “transit passenger” who had not crossed the border.
Mr Kerry said today it was “disappointing” that Mr Snowden had been able to
fly from Hong Kong to Russia, warning of consequences for ties with Moscow and Beijing.
Mr Kerry, speaking on a visit to New Delhi, also defended the decision to seek Mr Snowden’s arrest, saying he was a traitor. “He is an indicted individual, indicted on three felony counts,” he said. “Evidently he places himself above the law having betrayed his country.”
Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino confirmed that the leftist Latin American country, whose embassy in London is already sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was analysing Mr Snowden’s asylum request.
Ecuador’s outspoken leftist President Rafael Correa has championed the cause of Assange and his allies, to the fury of the USA. The US state department has revoked Mr Snowden’s passport and asked other countries to prevent him from travelling. But a source in Russia’s security agencies told Interfax that Mr Snowden could travel without a passport.
The New York Times quoted Mr Assange as saying his group had arranged for Mr Snowden to travel via a “special refugee travel document” issued by Ecuador last Monday.

Fugitive is healthy and safe, says Assange
London, 24 JUNE: Mr Edward Snowden is “healthy and safe”, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said today, although he refused to reveal his whereabouts. Snowden and the WikiLeaks staff member travelling with him, Sarah Harrison, are “healthy and safe and they are in contact with their legal team”, Assange said. “I cannot give further information as to their whereabouts or present circumstances other than to say that the matter is in hand,” he added. “We are aware where Mr Snowden is, he is in a safe place and his spirits are high. Due to the bellicose threats coming from the US we cannot go into further detail at this time.” afp