Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Russian citizenship to former CIA analyst Edward Snowden on Monday, according to a decree published on the official information portal of the public administration.
Snowden, 39, who received political asylum in Russia in 2013, is among the foreigners who received the country’s passport by decision of the Russian president.
The presidential decree specifies that citizenship is granted to a person born on June 21, 1983 in the United States.
Putin made the decision on the basis of Article 89 A of the Russian Constitution, which stipulates that the head of state can grant citizenship and political asylum.
Snowden, who applied for citizenship on November 2, 2020, has not commented on the Russian military campaign in Ukraine that began last February.
His lawyer, Anatoli Kucherena, denied today that Snowden could be recruited into the ranks of the army as part of the partial mobilization decreed by Putin last week.
“Because Edward has not served in the Russian army, he has no military practice or experience, and he cannot be mobilized,” he told the Interfax news agency.
The new Russian citizen, who obtained his permanent residence permit in October 2020, had his first child with his wife, Lindsay Mills, in December of that year.
Under Russian law, the child immediately obtained Russian citizenship because he was born in the country. The former analyst of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, US secret services), fled his country of origin after revealing details of the US espionage programs on a global scale in 2013 and has been persecuted ever since by the justice of the country, which accuses him of having violated the espionage law.
She went into exile in Russia and in 2014 Lindsay, also an American, joined Snowden, whom she married in 2017. In addition to writing books, Snowden works as a consultant and participates in global video conferences on information technology, its risks and threats.
Source: TSF
