President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to American whistleblower and former NSA employee Edward Snowden, a refugee in Russia since 2013 after leaving the United States, according to a decree published Monday. Edward Snowden’s name appears along with dozens of others in this decree posted on the Russian government website.
Edward Snowden, 39, is wanted by the United States for having transmitted to the press tens of thousands of documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) that prove the extent of the electronic surveillance exercised by Washington. These revelations had then aroused very strong tensions between the United States and its allies, and the decision of the Russian authorities to grant him a residence permit had angered Washington.
Edward Snowden welcomes ‘a bit of stability’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Ria Novosti agency that Russian citizenship had been granted to Edward Snowden at his request, made in 2020 to facilitate the return trips of his American wife, Lindsay Mills.
“After years of being separated from our parents, my wife and I do not wish to be separated from our children,” Edward Snowden tweeted. “After two years of waiting and almost ten years in exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family,” he added.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that Edward Snowden, still indicted in the United States, retained his US citizenship. “I’m not aware of any change in citizenship,” he said. “The only thing that has changed is that, as a result of this Russian citizenship, it could apparently now be mobilized to fight this irresponsible war” in Ukraine, he added.
The whistleblower’s Russian lawyer, Anatoli Koutcherena, instead clarified that Edward Snowden, having not served in the Russian army, would not be affected by the mobilization order decreed by Vladimir Putin last week for certain categories of Russians. According to him, Lindsay Mills also applied to receive Russian citizenship.
The White House still wants to take him to court.
Edward Snowden, deprived of his US passport at the request of Washington, found himself in Moscow in May 2013 after arriving there from Hong Kong and intending to find refuge in Latin America. He eventually found himself stranded in Russia, where he was granted asylum. He married Lindsay Mills in 2017 and the couple has since had two children.
In 2020, when the first was born, Edward Snowden explained that he was asking for Russian nationality so that the family could be together more easily, especially given the anti-Covid restrictions at the time. “Lindsay and I will remain Americans,” he said, however, “raising our son with all the American values that we love, including the freedom to speak our minds.” “And I look forward to the day that he can return to the United States, so that the whole family can be reunited.”
The White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, did not react directly, recalling the charges against her and, consequently, referring to the Ministry of Justice. “Mr. Snowden should return to the United States and face justice there like any other American citizen,” said Ned Price.
Source: BFM TV
