Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who leaked information about the agency’s widespread domestic surveillance operations during the Obama administration, has received a Russian passport and taken the citizenship oath, Russian media quoted his lawyer as saying on Dec. 2.
Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, was cited by Russian state media TASS as saying that his client received his Russian passport and pledged allegiance to his host country Russia on Dec. 1, where he fled from the United States in 2013 after making a series of explosive disclosures.
