Very few whistleblowers in the world get a new life after what they have done. Edward Snowden can be one of them, as he has been granted Russian Citizenship by President Vladimir Putin.
Since 2013, Edward Snowden has been living in Russia to escape prosecution in the United States after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.
The documents contained a vast amount of confidential documents, which covered surveillance operations carried out by the National Security Agency.
Edward Snowden Russian Citizenship
Back in 2020, he was officially granted permanent residency and planned to apply for citizenship without renouncing his US citizenship.
That same year, US appeals found out that Snowden’s expose was purely unlawful and US intelligence was not telling truth.
For over the years, US higher authorities tried everything to bring NSA Whistleblower Snowden back to the US to face trial on espionage charges.
On his citizenship, Snowden tweeted “After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our SONS. After two years of waiting and nearly ten years of exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family. I pray for privacy for them—and for us all,” Snowden tweeted on Monday.
In 2015, Edward Snowden’s lawyers worked to bring him back to US, but their terms didn’t fall on same page at all.
The US unaware of the Snowden citizenship
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday that the US is not aware of any change in Edward Snowden’s American citizenship status.
“Our position has not changed. Mr. Snowden should return to the United States where he should face justice as any other American citizen would,” he said.
“The only thing that has changed is that as a result of his Russian citizenship, apparently now he may well be conscripted to fight in a reckless war in Ukraine.”
Back in 2017, Putin stated that Snowden was wrong to leak US secrets but was not a traitor. And Snowden also at that time criticized Russian policies and showcased his desire to return to US only if they take a fair trial.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile told news agencies that Snowden had received Russian citizenship as a result of his own request.
Russia was already in hate books for everyone, ever since they invaded Ukraine and continuing to do so.
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