Could Edward Snowden hitch a ride with Venezuelan leader?

MOSCOW -- Another day, another flight to Havana that Edward Snowden appears to have skipped. And another theory about when the American fugitive will leave Russia.

“No seats were booked in his name for this flight,” an Aeroflot employee said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity, after the carrier’s flight to Cuba departed Sheremetyevo airport. The 2:05 p.m. flight operates five times a week -- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

“Up to now he hasn’t booked a seat for Saturday’s flight either,” the employee said, adding that Snowden remains in the transit area of the airport, where Russian officials say he has been since arriving from Hong Kong on Sunday.

Stanislav Belkovsky, president of the National Strategy Institute, a Moscow-based think tank, said he didn’t think Snowden could book a flight now because he lacks valid documents.

Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, had his passport terminated after the U.S. government issued a warrant for his arrest. The Ecuadorian government has said it issued Snowden a safe-passage document, although it also has said he has not yet been granted asylum, raising questions about where he could legally go from Moscow.

Belkovsky suggested that Snowden might be waiting for the planned visit to Moscow of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has said his country is considering granting asylum to Snowden. Venezuela would also be a convenient transit point for Snowden if he were trying to reach Ecuador.

“To fly to Venezuela as part of the presidential entourage is the safest mode for Snowden to attempt an intercontinental trip,” Belkovsky said.

Maduro is expected in Moscow for his first official visit July 1-2.

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sergei.loiko@latimes.com