MOSCOW (Reuters) – There was no sign that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was onboard a Russian plane bound for Cuba as it prepared to take off on Monday, a Reuters correspondent on the plane said.

A flight attendant said Snowden was not on the plane and the seat he had been expected to occupy was taken by another passenger.

(Reporting by Ekaterina Golubkova and Lidia Kelly, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)

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[Image: An empty passenger seat believed to be reserved by former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is seen on a plane to Cuba in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, June 24, 2013. By Maxim Shemetov for Reuters]