From the BBC:
“Edward Snowden granted
Russian citizenship”
Former US intelligence contractor
Edward Snowden, who leaked extensive US intelligence surveillance operations,
has been granted Russian citizenship. The decree was signed by Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Mr Snowden, 39, has been living in exile in
Russia since exposing the National Security Agency (NSA) programme affecting
millions of Americans in 2013. Mr Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the
US, has made no public comments. In 2020, the NSA surveillance of millions of
Americans' telephone records was ruled unlawful by the US Court of Appeals. Mr
Snowden said afterwards that he felt vindicated by the ruling. Top US
intelligence officials had publicly insisted the NSA had never knowingly
collected data from private phone records, until Mr Snowden exposed evidence to
the contrary. Following the revelation, officials said the NSA's surveillance
program had played a crucial role in fighting domestic terrorism, including the
convictions of Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Ahmed Nasir Taalil Mohamud, Mohamed
Mohamud, and Issa Doreh, of San Diego, for providing aid to al-Shabab militants
in Somalia.
^ Here's hoping he becomes one of
the 300,000 to 1 Million Russian Men now sent to fight and die in Ukraine under
Putin's Mobilization Order. ^
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