Where is Edward Snowden? | The Sun

WHISTLEBLOWER and former US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin on September 26, 2022.

The news comes nine years after he revealed classified information regarding secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).

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Edward Snowden fled the US and has been granted citizenship in Russia after he exposed copious amounts of highly classified information in 2013.

He was a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and an ex-contractor for the United States Government when he leaked the information and initially fled to Hong Kong before seeking asylum in Russia.

He received permanent residency in the country in 2020, paving his way for eventual citizenship that was granted by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

The US Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden on two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property on June 21, 2013, and attempted to have Snowden extradited to the US.

Snowden has maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing and refused to remain anonymous after he leaked the documents.

I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong, he told The Guardian in 2013.

The article was the first to reveal Snowden's identity at his request.

When he released the documents, he said: My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.

He wrote a note accompanying the documents and said: I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, but I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon, and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.

He claimed to not want the spotlight to be on him and instead wanted the media to focus on the information he leaked.

He told the outlet that he was willing to give up his $200k salary, his home, and his relationship to reveal the documents from the NSA.

Im willing to sacrifice all of that because I cant in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom, and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine theyre secretly building, Snowden told The Guardian.

Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint in May 2013 that charged Snowden with theft, "unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person," according to the complaint.

The classified information Snowden leaked revealed the NSA may keep phone records and emails of citizens and legal residents if the communication includes "significant foreign intelligence," according to classified documents The Washington Post reported.

Following the leak, then-President Barack Obama said NSA domestic activities do not involve listening to peoples phone calls, do not involve reading the e-mails of US citizens or US residents, absent further action by a federal court, that is entirely consistent with what we would do, for example, in a criminal investigation.

Obama claimed the use of this intelligence had foiled over 50 attempted terrorist plots both in the US and abroad.

Administration officials claimed the program does not target Americans if a search warrant is not obtained, however, Alex Abdo, who was a staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union said he wasn't so sure.

"These documents confirm what we have feared all along, that the NSA believes it can collect Americans international communications with little, if any, restriction, he told The Washington Post.

Its procedures allow it to target for surveillance essentially any foreigner located abroad whether or not theyre suspected of any wrongdoing, let alone terrorism.

Snowden claimed to have only leaked the information that he thought was of vital importance to the American public.

I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest, he told The Guardian.

There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didnt turn over because harming people isnt my goal. Transparency is.

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Putin granted Snowden citizenship nine years after the self-proclaimed whistleblower was granted asylum in Russia.

Putin told US director Oliver Stone he didn't consider Snowden to be "a traitor" for leaking government documents in a 2017 documentary film.

As an ex-KGB agent, you must have hated what Snowden did with every fiber of your being, Stone says in the clip.

Snowden is not a traitor, Putin replied. 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. The only thing Snowden does, he does publicly."

Snowden publicly said he was seeking Russian citizenship in the long term, and his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherenawife, has said Snowden's wife, Lindsay Mills, is seeking citizenship as well.

Mills moved to Russia to live with Snowden in 2014 and they had a child in December 2020.

The approval comes less than a week after Putin announced a mobilization of 300k troops who would be sent to fight in Ukraine.

Putin has claimed only those with military experience would be mobilized, and although Snowden served in the US Army, Putin said he was exempt from the war efforts as he does not have experience in the Russian Army.

Snowden has not commented on his new Russian citizenship.

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Where is Edward Snowden? | The Sun