Putin grants Russian citizenship to US whistleblower Snowden

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted citizenship to former US intelligence contractor and whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

Former US intelligence contractor and whistle blower Edward Snowden (File photograph: AFP)

President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, 9 years after he uncovered the dimensions of secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret information in 2013 that exposed huge home and worldwide surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, the place he labored.

U.S. authorities have for years needed him returned to the United States to face a felony trial on espionage expenses.

There was no instant response from Snowden, whose title appeared with none Kremlin touch upon an inventory of 72 foreign-born people on whom Putin was conferring citizenship.

In 2020, Russia granted Snowden everlasting residency rights, paving the way in which for him to acquire Russian citizenship.

That yr a U.S. appeals court docket discovered this system Snowden had uncovered was illegal and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it weren’t telling the reality.

Putin, a former Russian spy chief, mentioned in 2017 that Snowden, who retains a low profile whereas dwelling in Russia, was incorrect to leak U.S. secrets and techniques however was not a traitor.

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