Russia: Vladimir Putin grants US whistleblower Edward Snowden Russian citizenship

The famous whistleblower fled the United States in 2013 after revealing mass surveillance efforts by the US government
Edward Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013
AP
Lydia Chantler-Hicks26 September 2022

Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA) where he was a contractor.

President Putin signed a decree on Monday granting him Russian citizenship, Reuters news agency reports.

American authorities have wanted Snowden returned to the United States for years to face a criminal trial on espionage charges.

There was no immediate reaction from Snowden, whose name appeared without any Kremlin comment on a list of 72 foreign-born individuals on whom Putin was conferring citizenship.

Edward Snowden now lives in Moscow

In 2020, Russia granted Snowden permanent residency rights, paving the way for him to obtain Russian citizenship.

The same year, a US appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the US intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.

Putin, a former Russian spy chief, said in 2017 that Snowden, who keeps a low profile while living in Russia, was wrong to leak US secrets but was not a traitor.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in