The plane carrying whistleblower Edward Snowden has landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The former CIA contractor, who left Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition on espionage charges, is on his way to a ‘third country’ via Russia.

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced via twitter that Snowden had applied for asylum.

Interfax news agency is citing an unnamed source in Sheremetyevo airport management, saying that Snowden is still at the airport.

“Snowden is a transit passenger, his next flight is to Cuba, he remains in the airport complex – where he’s supposed to be, waiting for the next flight,” the source said.

A source at Aeroflot Russian Airlines told the agency that the whistleblower, who is accompanied by WikiLeaks representative, Sarah Harrison, has rented a suit at the airport’s «V-Express» Capsule Hotel.

“He arrived. But he can’t leave the terminal because he doesn’t have a Russian visa,” the source said.

Two cars with diplomatic license plates of Ecuador – the country named among Snowden’s possible destinations – were spotted at Sheremetyevo airport.

Ecuador’s ambassador to Russia, Patricio Chavez, arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport after Edward Snowden’s plane touched down in Moscow.