Though Putin has said he is outside the control of Russia, there has to be some sort of Russian authority in that transit area and I imagine they would have det

Though Putin has said he is outside the control of Russia, there has to be some sort of Russian authority in that transit area and I imagine they would have detained Snowden right away. He has no valid passport and he can't get a visa. Russia also doesn't need for Snowden to be a traveling circus in their airport with his mug being beamed to the world from Russia on a daily basis until they get rid of him. I would also think that given his situation, that they would have to put through some sort of request to the Russian government for asylum or a similar scheme for staying there without a visa (from what I have read, you can only stay at that airport for 24 hours without a visa.) That process will probably take a while. Maybe Hong Kong and Russia have been dragging their feet a bit as an F.U. to the U.S. but it seems like they have been following their own laws. All the chatter about whisking Snowden away to some safe location seems to have come from people with no authority to do anything. I think it's simple. Russia detained Snowden in the transit area (if for no other reason than to keep him away from the media frenzy) and that's why we haven't seen pictures of him.