The ex-agent of NSA, refugee in Russia since its revelations in 2013 on the American surveillance system, is not concerned by the order of mobilization decreed by the Russian president within the framework of the war in Ukraine, said his lawyer.
Le Monde with AFP
The decision is announced in an international context under tensions between Russia and Western countries, against the backdrop of war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian nationality to the whistleblower and former employee of the US National Security Agency (NSA) Edward Snowden, refugee in Russia since 2013, according to a decree published Monday, September 26. p>
The name of Mr. Snowden appears alongside dozens of other people cited in this decree published on the site of the Russian government. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told the news agency Ria Novosti that Russian nationality had been granted to the whistleblower as a result of his own request – without specifying when it had been made. Edward Snowden has not yet reacted publicly to this decision.
His Russian lawyer, Anatoli Koutcherena, said it would not be affected by the order of mobilization decreed by Vladimir Putin last week for hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists on the war front in Ukraine. “He did not serve in the Russian army and, therefore, according to our current legislation, he does not enter this category of citizens who are now called,” he told Ria Novosti.
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According to him, Mr. Snowden’s partner, Lindsay Mills, also asked to receive Russian nationality and their daughter already possessed it, being born in Russia.
39 years old, Edward Snowden is wanted by the United States for having transmitted tens of thousands of NSA documents to the press proving the magnitude of electronic surveillance exerted by Washington.
These revelations, which reveal, among other things, governments spying by the United States, had aroused very strong tensions between the country and its allies. The Russian authorities’ decision to grant him a residence permit had caused Washington’s anger.
Edward Snowden, deprived of his American passport on request from the United States, found himself in Moscow in June 2013 after arriving there from Hong Kong and with the intention of finding refuge in Latin America. He finally found himself blocked in Russia, where he then obtained asylum.