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.
Kucherena told the outlet that he had seen Snowden a day earlier and that he was doing well.
Snowden lives in Moscow with his American wife, Lindsey Mills. According to Kucherena, Mills also has applied to become a Russian citizen.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Dec. 2 that the United States was aware of reports Snowden had finalized his Russian citizenship but couldn’t confirm them.
“Mr. Snowden has long signaled his allegiance to Russia. This step would only formalize that,” Price told reporters.
While some view Snowden as a whistleblower who helped expose government intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans, others consider him a traitor who undermined national security and put American lives at risk.
‘Tremendous Damage to National Security’
Snowden leaked documents on the NSA’s collection of data that passed through the infrastructure of U.S. phone and internet companies. He also released details about the classified U.S. intelligence budget and the extent of U.S. surveillance on foreign officials, including the leaders of U.S.-allied countries.Snowden says he made the disclosures because he believed the U.S. intelligence community had gone too far and infringed on civil liberties.
The bipartisan report said that Snowden caused “tremendous damage to national security” and that the vast majority of documents he leaked were unrelated to NSA programs that had an impact on the individual privacy of ordinary citizens.
“They instead pertain to military, defense, and intelligence programs of great interest to America’s adversaries,” the report said.
“A review of the materials Snowden compromised makes clear that he handed over secrets that protect American troops overseas and secrets that provide vital defenses against terrorists and nation-states.
“Some of Snowden’s disclosures exacerbated and accelerated existing trends that diminished the IC’s capabilities to collect against legitimate foreign intelligence targets, while others resulted in the loss of intelligence streams that had saved American lives.”
‘Canceled My Passport to Trap Me Here’
After Snowden posted the secret files, he fled to Russia.Putin, a former KGB official, publicly stated in 2017 that Snowden was wrong to leak intelligence secrets but didn’t believe that he was a traitor to the United States.
At the time, Snowden was seeking asylum in Bolivia and several other countries. U.S. authorities revoked Snowden’s passport in 2013, leading to his being stranded in a Moscow airport for weeks as he tried to reach Ecuador.
Since moving to Russia, Snowden has rarely remarked on Russian domestic affairs and reportedly keeps a low profile.
It’s unclear whether Snowden has renounced his U.S. citizenship.
