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Edward Snowden swears allegiance to Russia and receives passport

Saturday, 03 December 2022 7:53 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 03 December 2022 7:53 AM ]

Former computer intelligence consultant Edward Snowden appears virtually during the “Belmarsh Tribunal” at Church House in London, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021.(AP file photo)

Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about US surveillance programs, has received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country.

Snowden, 39, was granted Russian citizenship in an order signed by President Vladimir Putin in September.

On Friday, his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said Snowden had received his passport. “He took the oath,” he said.

“He of course is happy and thankful to the Russian Federation for his citizenship – he’s now a fully fledged citizen of Russia,” Kucherena said. “And most importantly, under the Russian constitution, he cannot be given up to a foreign state.”

He is wanted by Washington on espionage charges, but he argues that his actions were in the interests of the United States.

White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday that Snowden's case is still the subject of a criminal investigation.

His defenders hail him as a modern-day dissident for exposing the extent of US spying, however, his opponents say that he is a traitor who has risked his life by exposing the various methods used by Western spies to collect information from other governments and militias.

Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013 when the US government stripped him of his passport after he exposed the vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

After fleeing the US in 2013, he was charged with violations of the Espionage Act, which could in total have led to decades in prison.

Snowden in 2020 said he and his then-pregnant wife were applying for Russian citizenship to make sure they are not separated from their future son in an era of pandemics and closed borders.

He was granted permanent residency rights the same year by the Russian government, which paved the way for him to obtain the country's citizenship.

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