THE Edward Snowden he is now officially considered Russian, having acquired the Russian language citizenship at the age of 39 and after years of hiding in Russia, according to a decision made by Vladimir Putin.
In particular, the Russian president signed a relevant decree, where, in addition to Snowden, Russian citizenship was given to 71 more people. Also three people lost their Russian citizenship.
It is noted that Snowden fled the United States and was granted asylum in Russia after the leak of secret files in 2013, which revealed massive domestic and international surveillance operations conducted by the US National Security Agency, where he worked under contract.
Thus, he has been living in Russia since 2013, while in the USA Snowden is accused of disclosing classified information about the NSA surveillance programs of American and foreign citizens. Snowden reportedly gained access to around 1.7 million classified documents, which he handed over to journalists. The collection of phone data was ruled illegal in 2015. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
During the 2016 election campaign, former US President Donald Trump called Snowden a “spy” and asked Russia to extradite him. In 2016, Snowden said he was ready to return to the United States on the condition of “a fair trial” asking then US President Barack Obama to pardon him.
Source: News Beast
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