NSA leaker Snowden leaves Hong Kong reportedly for Russia

Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about the country's surveillance programs, left Hong Kong Sunday to a third country.

Snowden left Hong Kong on his own accord for a third country through "a lawful and normal channel," despite an earlier request from the U.S. to Hong Kong for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against him, the Hong Kong government said in a statement Sunday. The Hong Kong authorities did not name the country Snowden was headed to.

Snowden is on a commercial flight to Russia, but Moscow will not be his final destination, the South China Morning Post reported. He flew to Hong Kong last month after leaving his job as a contractor at an NSA facility in Hawaii. WikiLeaks said in a Twitter message Sunday that Snowden "is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors." The whistle-blower site has assisted Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers and safe exit from Hong Kong, it said in another message.