Whistleblower escapes from Hong Kong to Moscow on a commerci

[Maandhow]

" Snowden, a former NSA contractor Whistleblower escapes from Hong Kong to Moscow on a commercial flight despite a formal US extradition request.".

Snowden's escape from Hong Kong infuriated US politicians, while China focused on condemning Washington over his latest disclosures, which suggested the NSA had hacked into Chinese mobile phone companies to access millions of private text messages.

Moscow was also drawn into the controversy after it emerged that Snowden's passport had been revoked before he left Hong Kong and he did not have a visa for Russia.

But Russia appeared indifferent to the uproar, with one official saying Snowden was safe from the authorities as long as he remained in the transit lounge at the city's Sheremetyevo airport.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said: "I know nothing."

In Washington, congressmen fulminated at the array of powers suddenly ranged against the US. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House permanent select committee on intelligence, railed at the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over his attitude to Snowden, suggesting an ulterior motive.

"I'm sure they would love to have a little bit of coffee and some conversation with Mr Snowden," Rogers said.

Democratic senator Chuck Schumer added: "The bottom line is very simple: allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways, and Putin always seems almost eager to put a finger in the eye of the United States, whether it is Syria, Iran and now of course with Snowden. That's not how allies should treat each other and I think it will have serious consequences for the United States-Russia relationship."

"As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong," the statement said.

Yet the admission that Snowden had been allowed to leave was made five hours after he had boarded an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, and the discovery of the oversight came two days after the papers had been formally sent.

On Sunday night a US justice department official said it was disappointed that Hong Kong authorities did not arrest Snowden, despite repeated contacts at senior level about the matter. "The US is disappointed and disagrees with the determination by Hong Kong authorities not to honour the request for the arrest of the fugitive," the official said.

At no point in discussions on Friday did Hong Kong raise issues regarding the sufficiency of the US arrest request, the official added. "In light of this, we find their decision to be particularly troubling."

On Saturday, the South China Morning Post disclosed details of new documents from Snowden that suggested the NSA had hacked into Chinese phone companies.

But China's official Xinhua news agency said the revelations had "put Washington in a really awkward situation".
"They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age," it said.

The fall-out from Snowden's leaks continued to stir the surveillance debate in the UK, with Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, insisting David Cameron or the foreign secretary, William Hague, should address MPs.

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