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Travel Updates

No sign of NSA leaker Edward Snowden, in limbo in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport

Edward Snowden moscow Sheremetyevo airport

Transit passengers eat near a news report on Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. Russia's President Vladimir Putin Mr Snowden remains in the airport's transit zone, but journalists have been unable to locate him there. Picture: AP Source: AP

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says that fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since flying in from Hong Kong - meaning that he has not officially entered the country.

If true, it's effectively a life of airport limbo for Mr Snowden, whose American passport has been revoked by US authorities.

Here's a look at how the place looks and operates.

What it's like




Edward Snowden Sheremetyevo airport

Transit passengers and press sit at a cafe in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. Picture: AP



No trace of Snowden

Mr Putin insisted Tuesday that Mr Snowden has stayed in the transit zone without passing Russian immigration and is free to travel wherever he likes.


The US move to annul Mr Snowden's passport might have further complicated his travel plans.


A transit passenger takes a photo with a mobile phone in the transit zone at Sheremetyevo airport. Mr Snowden is believed to have arrived at the transit zone after fleeing Hong Kong on Sunday. Picture: AP

Hordes of journalists armed with laptops and photo and video cameras have camped in and around the airport, looking for Mr Snowden or anyone who may have seen or talked to him. But after talking to passengers, airport personnel, waiters and shop clerks, the press corps has discovered no trace of the elusive leaker.

Russian news agencies, citing unidentified sources, reported that Mr Snowden was staying at a hotel in the transit terminal, but he was nowhere to be seen at the zone's only hotel, called "Air Express.''

It offers several dozen capsule-style spaces that passengers can rent for a few hours to catch some sleep. Hotel staff refused to say whether Mr Snowden was or has in the past stayed there.

"We only saw lots of journalists, that's for sure,'' said Maxim, a waiter at the Shokoladnitsa diner not far from Air Express. He declined to give his last name because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.

Places to hide

The departure and transit area is huge and has dozens of small rooms, some labelled "authorised personnel only,'' where one could potentially seek refuge with support from airport staff or security personnel. And security forces or police patrolling the area can easily whisk a person out of this area though back doors or corridors.

Edward Snowden Sheremetyevo airport

People stand in front of Sheremetyevo airport terminal F in Moscow, where US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is believed to have spent a fourth day. Picture: AFP

There are also a few VIP lounge areas, accessible to business-class passengers or people willing to pay some $20 per hour. Mr Snowden was not seen in those areas.


Sheremetyevo's press service declined to comment on Mr Snowden's whereabouts. A policeman at the airport laughed off a question from an AP reporter about Mr Snowden's whereabouts.

"Journalists have searched this place for three days and have found nothing. Was he ever here in the first place?'' the policeman asked. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorised to talk to the media.