Who knew that Moscow was on the way from Hong Kong to Quito?
BY JULIA IOFFE
... To be clear: there is absolutely no way that Snowden could have pulled off this feat without cooperation of the Russians at the highest levels. First, there's the fact that Moscow immediately jumped on the Snowden story about two weeks ago, saying archly that it would consider granting Snowden asylum ... Moreover, Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow -- and will fly Moscow to Havana -- on Aeroflot. Aeroflot .. is majority owned by the Russian government ... But what is the point? And what can Russia really do with that political capital? ... Letting Snowden crash in Sheremetyevo for 21 hours cost Russia nothing. There's not much the U.S. can do to retaliate ...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113589/edward-snowden-lands-moscow-way-ecuador-asylum#
