Putin grants Russian citizenship to US whistleblower Edward Snowden
US authorities have for years wanted Snowden returned to the US to face a criminal trial
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, nine years after he exposed the scale of secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, where he worked.
US authorities have for years wanted him returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges.
There was no immediate reaction from Snowden, whose name appeared without Kremlin comment in a Putin decree conferring citizenship on a list of 72 foreign-born individuals.
Snowden's lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA news agency that his client could not be called up because he had not previously served in the Russian army.
He said that Snowden's wife Lindsay Mills, who gave birth to a son in 2020, would also apply for citizenship.
Russia granted Snowden permanent residency rights in 2020, paving the way for him to obtain Russian citizenship.
That year a US appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the US intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.