Russian President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship on Monday (26) to Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about top-secret U.S. surveillance programs and is still wanted by Washington on espionage charges.
The decree signed by Putin covered 72 foreigners, but Snowden was the most prominent. Russia granted him asylum in 2013 after he fled the United States to avoid prosecution.
The 39-year-old Snowden, who considers himself a whistleblower, was granted permanent residency in Russia in 2020, and his lawyers said at the time that he was applying to obtain a Russian passport without renouncing his U.S. citizenship.
His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told the state-run news agency RIA Novosti on Monday that his wife, Lindsay Mills, is now applying for Russian citizenship. Mills joined Snowden in Moscow in 2014. They were married in 2017. Snowden tweeted Monday night that they were parents to two boys.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
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