This is from The Guardian's live blog on Snowden developments.
The Guardian's Tania Branigan in Hong Kong reports that more details have emerged about Snowden’s last few days there:
Albert Ho, a solicitor who acted for the former NSA contractor in Hong Kong, told the Guardian that Snowden had asked him to make inquiries of the authorities about their intentions.
"I talked to government officials on Friday seeking verification of whether they really wanted him to go, and in case they really wanted him to go, whether he would be given safe passage," Ho said.
Snowden made up his mind on Friday to leave for Moscow, Ho said.
"It was evident that extradition proceedings would begin quite quickly,” he said.
Another source with knowledge of events in Hong Kong said Snowden appeared nervous when he left and that he was not sure whether he might be heading into a trap. "It happened very suddenly, in one or two days. Before that he was thinking of staying and fighting the case," the source said. "He well understood what the different situations were and the consequences. Things were changing all the time. He knew that he was in trouble, but he didn't panic. He understood the consequences of what he had done, making enemies of many people, but he didn't regret it."
Ho said he las saw Snowden on Tuesday last week. "He was rather relaxed when I saw him. We had a birthday party for him. I didn't know it was around his birthday so I bought pizza and fried chicken so we could have dinner together. We toasted him – but he drank Pepsi instead of red wine. We talked about American and international politics and countries where he could seek asylum. He seemed to have done a lot of research and mentioned a number of countries."
Ho said Snowden described the place he was staying in Hong Kong as "a very small place", "but he was OK, with his computer he could communicate with people".
More pieces to add to the complicated puzzle. This would give the impression that the government of Honk Kong was attempting to dodge the issue of cooperation with the US on extradition. They have the less incurred the US's official wrath.