- Reaction score
- 1,697
President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, nine years after he exposed the scale of secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, where he worked.
U.S. authorities have for years wanted him returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges.
There was no immediate reaction from Snowden, whose name appeared without Kremlin comment in a Putin decree conferring citizenship on a list of 72 foreign-born people.
Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden
Snowden fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013.
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The fact that US has punished Snowden more than anybody that was exposed in his leaks is just utterly ridiculous.
