The 39-year-old American had made public a broad surveillance program by the National Security Agency. Meanwhile he lives in asylum in Russia.
Edward Snowden, here speaking in Moscow.
(Reuters)
President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence official Edward Snowden, nine years after he revealed the extent of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) covert surveillance operations.
Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was granted asylum in Russia after releasing classified files in 2013 that revealed extensive national and international surveillance by the NSA, for which he worked.
American authorities have wanted him to return to the United States to face charges of espionage for years.
There was no immediate reaction from Snowden, whose name appeared without any comment from the Kremlin on a list of 72 foreign-born people whom Putin granted citizenship.
In 2020, Russia granted Snowden permanent residency, paving the way for him to obtain Russian citizenship.
That same year, a US appeals court ruled that the program uncovered by Snowden was unlawful and that the American intelligence officials who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.
Putin, a former Russian spy chief, said in 2017 that Snowden, who lives in Russia and keeps a low profile, made a mistake in divulging US secrets but was not a traitor.