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Russia Grants Citizenship to NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden

HeadlineSep 27, 2022

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday granting Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who in 2013 leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States built a massive surveillance apparatus to spy on Americans and people across the globe. After sharing the documents with American reporters in Hong Kong, Snowden was charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he fled in an attempt to reach political exile in Latin America, Snowden became stranded at Moscow’s international airport after the U.S. revoked his passport. He has lived in political exile in Russia ever since. In 2019, Snowden offered to return to the United States if he could be guaranteed a fair trial.

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