Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been living there since 2013 when he leaked information about U.S. surveillance programs.
Snowden, 39, was one of more than 70 foreigners granted citizenship Monday, just as Russia has begun drafting citizens to the frontlines in its invasion of Ukraine.
Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told state media Monday that the whistleblower will not be subject to the partial military mobilization because he has never served in the army.
The former NSA contractor faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of espionage charges in the U.S. for leaking top-secret NSA surveillance to the media.
“Our position has not changed,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday. “Mr. Snowden should return to the United States, where he should face justice as any other American citizen would.”
Snowden was granted permanent residency in Russia in 2020 without renouncing his American citizenship. He and his wife, Lindsay Mills, applied for Russian citizenship in November 2020.
“Lindsay and I will remain Americans, raising our son with all the values of the America we love — including the freedom to speak his mind,” he tweeted at the time. “And I look forward to the day I can return to the States, so the whole family can be reunited.”
In a 2017 documentary by Oliver Stone, Putin said he did not consider Snowden a traitor.
“He did not betray the interests of his country, nor did he transfer any information to any other country which would have been pernicious to his own country or to his own people,” he said. “The only thing Snowden does, he does publicly.”
