That’s what happens when the US waits to cancel your passport until you are stuck in the transit hub of a Russian airport waiting for your next flight out of the country.
iIRC it took like 12 months until Russia granted Snowden asylum and he could leave the airport hub.
Which itself is based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.
It is uncommon, but passports being invalidated during travel does happen.
Ah you are right. I seem to have gotten it mixed up with the initial 1 year refugee status he was granted, before the first 3 year temporary residency permit.
Either way, the US tried to prevent his leaving Hong Kong but however they submitted it, their request didn’t comply with Hong Kong law so there was no legal basis for them to detain him.
Four countries had offered Snowden permanent asylum: Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela. No direct flights between Moscow and Venezuela, Bolivia, or Nicaragua existed, however, and the U.S. pressured countries along his route to hand him over. His intended destination was Ecuador, but his passport being revoked while he was in flight from Hong Kong meant he was stuck in Russia.
He had given all copies of the evidence he had to journalists in Hong Kong reporting on American issues, specifically so when travelling through Russia they would have nothing to leverage.
Snowden said in July 2013 that he decided to bid for asylum in Russia because he felt there was no safe way to reach Latin America.
Russia was under no obligation to keep Snowden instead of letting him continue to Ecuador. Putin just wanted to use him as a bargaining chip with the U.S., but the U.S. understood that all his documents were already public, so Putin hasn’t been able to play that card well yet.
That’s what happens when the US waits to cancel your passport until you are stuck in the transit hub of a Russian airport waiting for your next flight out of the country.
iIRC it took like 12 months until Russia granted Snowden asylum and he could leave the airport hub.
Like that Tom Hanks movie! I think it’s called The Terminal
Which itself is based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.
It is uncommon, but passports being invalidated during travel does happen.
Didn’t see the movie, I had no idea it was that long.
40 days but that’s still quite some
Ah you are right. I seem to have gotten it mixed up with the initial 1 year refugee status he was granted, before the first 3 year temporary residency permit.
Either way, the US tried to prevent his leaving Hong Kong but however they submitted it, their request didn’t comply with Hong Kong law so there was no legal basis for them to detain him.
Four countries had offered Snowden permanent asylum: Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela. No direct flights between Moscow and Venezuela, Bolivia, or Nicaragua existed, however, and the U.S. pressured countries along his route to hand him over. His intended destination was Ecuador, but his passport being revoked while he was in flight from Hong Kong meant he was stuck in Russia.
He had given all copies of the evidence he had to journalists in Hong Kong reporting on American issues, specifically so when travelling through Russia they would have nothing to leverage.
Snowden said in July 2013 that he decided to bid for asylum in Russia because he felt there was no safe way to reach Latin America.
Considering they grounded Evo Morales’ plane because they thought he was on it, I’d say that’s a fair bet.
It was revoked before he left China. https://apnews.com/general-news-587786e6e63b4dc2b70c471606d7f584
That didn’t stop China from ignoring his asylum request following his release of documentation of hacked Chinese systems and kicking him out of the country because whether you have a valid passport doesn’t matter for geopolitical issues. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1259508/edward-snowden-us-government-has-been-hacking-hong-kong-and-china
Russia was under no obligation to keep Snowden instead of letting him continue to Ecuador. Putin just wanted to use him as a bargaining chip with the U.S., but the U.S. understood that all his documents were already public, so Putin hasn’t been able to play that card well yet.