Moscow-Cuba plane detour sparks speculation Snowden may be on board

Moscow-Cuba plane detour sparks speculation Snowden may be on board
Get short URL Published time: July 11, 2013 17:33
Edited time: July 11, 2013 21:59

An Aeroflot plane en route from Moscow to Havana has deviated from its
course, FlightAware live flight tracking indicates. The news has sparked
online speculation that NSA leaker Edward Snowden may be aboard the
aircraft.

Aeroflot flight 150 to Havana took off from Moscow's Sheremetyevo
airport at 14:10 pm local 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.

The plane is expected to land in the Cuban capital around 22:30 GMT.
Upon its arrival in Havana, it may finally become clear whether Snowden
has left Moscow or not.

Under Russian law, air carriers are banned from sharing flight passenger
data to third parties, Aeroflot spokesman Andrey Sogrin told RT.

Referring to the flight detour, Sogrin said that "it is difficult to
explain now" what exactly was behind the decision, but added that
weather conditions or an issue with the flight schedule could be behind
the move. In other words, if a flight is delayed, its route is sometimes
changed in order to catch up with its expected landing time.

However, Thursday's flight took off only five minutes later than
scheduled, according to the Sheremetyevo airport website.

Aviation expert Chris Yates said that flying straight across the ocean
might be a bit more risky than sticking to the traditional route.

"Westbound transatlantic flights take particular tracks that are
determined by the weather conditions," he told RT. "It is likely that
Snowden is not on board that airplane, but that the North Atlantic
Tracks have been moved South because of weather conditions prevailing
over Greenland and part of Iceland at the moment," Yates said.

When Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong over two weeks ago, the
media thought that Snowden was on his way to Havana because he
reportedly had a ticket to Cuba. The news caused quite a stir among
journalists who rushed to get tickets on the same flight. However,
Snowden never boarded the flight.

Snowden first fled the US for Hong Kong. He arrived in Russia on June 23
and has been trapped in the international transit zone of Moscow's
Sheremetyevo airport ever since.

The 30-year-old whistleblower has applied for asylum in over 20
countries around the globe. However, so far only three countries in
Latin America – Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua – have said they would
grant asylum to the former CIA employee.

http://rt.com/news/snowden-plane-route-cuba-965/