On September 26 (local time), President Vladimir Putin granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. 39-year-old Snowden made headlines after he exposed large-scale secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA) at domestic and international levels in 2013. Following the expose, Snowden fled to Russia, where he was granted asylum in 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree granting Russian citizenship to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden: Reuters
— ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2022
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/ejvK7IFpE6
The US authorities have been trying to bring Snowden back to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges. If proven guilty in the US court, Snowden may face prison for up to 30 years. Snowden was granted citizenship along with 71 other foreign-born individuals via a decree signed by President Putin. Russia did not comment on anything specific about Snowden.
However, Snowden published a tweet asking for privacy. His message was an updated version of the 2020 tweet where he had announced that he would be applying for Russian citizenship. He wrote, “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.”
After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our SONS.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 26, 2022
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. https://t.co/24NUK21TAo pic.twitter.com/qLfp47uzZ4
Notably, Snowden was granted permanent residency rights by Russia in 2020, which cleared the way for him to apply for citizenship. In the same year, a US appeals court ruled that the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful. The court further noted that the US intelligence leaders who defended the program were ‘not telling the truth’. Furthermore, in 2017, Putin himself said that Snowden was wrong to leak US secrets but refused to call him a traitor.
Snowden’s counsel Anatoly Kucherena was quoted by the RIA news agency saying that Snowden’s wife Lindsay Mills would also apply for citizenship in Russia. Mills gave birth to a son in 2020.
Speaking to the media, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said he was unaware of any change to his citizenship status of Snowden. He said, “I am familiar with the fact that he has in some ways denounced his American citizenship. I don’t know that he’s renounced it.”
