Famous in the world because, being a CIA analyst, he denounced illegal practices of the United States. For years, they have resided in Russia and the US requests it to judge him. Now, he is Russian.
Former US Security Agency (NSA) analyst Edward Snowden has received a Russian passport, his lawyer has confirmed, after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted him citizenship in September.
” Edward yesterday received a passport of a Russian citizen and took an oath in line with the law,” Anatoli Kucherena said in statements given to the Russian news agency Interfax. “He is grateful to Russia for having received citizenship and for being a full-fledged citizen of Russia,” he added.
In this sense, he has noted that “the most important thing is that, according to the Russian Constitution, he cannot be extradited to a foreign country”, while revealing that Snowden ‘s wife has also begun procedures to obtain Russian citizenship. “I think that the process will not last long”, she has settled her.
Putin granted citizenship to Snowden in September, wanted by the US Justice for leaking extensive information about the National Security Agency (NSA) to Wikileaks. Snowden filed in November 2020 with his wife, Lindsay Mills, also an American, an application to receive Russian citizenship.
Snowden is wanted by the United States Justice after numerous secret documents were leaked in 2013 in which different espionage techniques carried out by the National Security agency were revealed, including illegal wiretapping of international political leaders.
Once he fled the United States, his first destination was Hong Kong, although he later ended up in Russia. In 2014 she received her first residence permit which, years later, would be extended indefinitely. That same year, one of her lawyers reported that Snowden would be willing to return to US soil “under certain conditions” and acknowledged that “negotiations” were underway to that end.