Zee Media Bureau

Hong Kong: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who had stirred up a hornet’s nest by his latest revelations about the US spying extensively on China, arrived in Moscow on Sunday after leaving Hong Kong, reports said.

There are speculation that he might leave for another country.

According to a South China Morning Post report, Edward Snowden boarded a commercial flight to Russia on Sunday morning, though Moscow wouldn’t be his final destination.

However, Snowden has previously indicated that his other options may be Iceland or Ecuador.

In a statement, Hong Kong government said that Snowden had left the country "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel".

Snowden boarded Aeroflot Flight SU213, which is scheduled to land at Moscow’s Shermetyevo International Airport at 5.15pm, the report added.

Hong Kong has conveyed the information of Snowden’s departure to the US, saying that the former British colony couldn’t bar Snowden from leaving the country as there was not enough “information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest”.

Snowden, who was holed up in Hong Kong since May 20 after leaking a trove of secret information about US spying programmes, was yesterday slapped by US officials with charges of espionage, theft of government data and conveying classified information to unauthorised person.

The charges could make it difficult for Hong Kong which is governed by China to deny his extradition on political grounds under their extradition treaty.

After he was charged, Snowden came up with fresh revelations against the US, claiming that the US was involved in intensive hacking attacks on Tsinghua University – a top Chinese university which carries out a number of China`s research programmes.