Edward Snowden, a former security expert who exposed top-secret American surveillance programmes and is still wanted by Washington on espionage charges, was granted citizenship by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. In a decree that Putin signed, Snowden, 39, was one of 72 foreigners who received citizenship.
In order to avoid punishment, Snowden, who considers himself a whistleblower, left the United States and has been residing in Russia since that country gave him refuge in 2013. When Snowden received permanent residency in 2020, his attorneys claimed that he was attempting to seek for a Russian passport without renunciating his American citizenship.
The state-run news agency RIA Novosti was informed on Monday by Snowden’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, that Snowden’s wife, Lindsay Mills, is also in the process of seeking for Russian citizenship.
In 2014, Mills accompanied Snowden to Moscow. In 2017, they got married, and now they have a son together. Additionally, Kucherena stated that because to Snowden’s lack of combat experience, he would not be subject to the partial military mobilisation that Putin ordered last week to support Russia’s waning war in Ukraine. Putin claimed that only individuals with prior experience would be called up for the partial mobilisation, but there have been several stories of other people receiving summonses, including those detained during anti-mobilization protests.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, declined to comment on Snowden’s new passport and instead directed inquiries to the legal teams vying for his extradition. Therefore, we would direct you to the Department of Justice for any details on this since I understand there have been criminal charges taken against him, Jean-Pierre stated.
The Washington Post and the Guardian were the first publications to carry Snowden’s revelations, which were perhaps the largest security breech in American history. His revelation exposed the top-secret NSA programme PRISM’s use of surveillance and the collection of a wide spectrum of digital data.
Putin stated in a documentary directed by American Oliver Stone in 2017 that he did not view Snowden as a “traitor” for disclosing official information.
In the video, Stone replies, “As a former KGB operative, you must have loathed what Snowden did with all of your being.”
Putin retorted, “Snowden is not a traitor.” “He didn’t betray his nation’s interests. Furthermore, he didn’t give any information to any other nation that would have been harmful to that nation or its citizens. Snowden only acts publicly when he does anything.
Snowden defended his choice to apply for dual citizenship in 2020.
