Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programmes, had planned to fly to Havana from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport a day after arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.

Citing several sources, including one close to the U.S. State Department, Kommersant newspaper said the reason was that at the last minute Cuba told officials to stop Snowden from boarding the Aeroflot flight.

It said Cuba had changed its mind after pressure by the United States, which wants to try Snowden on espionage charges.