This is incorrect, nobody was forced to land. He had a stopover in Russia (as he was flying Aeroflot). Passport was not revoked mid-flight. It was supposed to

This is incorrect, nobody was forced to land. He had a stopover in Russia (as he was flying Aeroflot). Passport was not revoked mid-flight. It was supposed to be handled earlier, but it looks like a clerical error caused issues: > Though the U.S. maintains it provided all the necessary facts, on Tuesday Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen told reporters that there was a discrepancy between U.S. and Hong Kong records over Snowden’s full name and that his department never received Snowden’s passport number, which it had requested. (http://world.time.com/2013/06/25/snowdens-hong-kong-escape-what-role-did-beijing-play/ http://world.time.com/2013/06/25/snowdens-hong-kong-escape-w...)