The Russian government has granted citizenship to Edward Snowden, a former intelligence IT employee accused of leaking classified information to the US government.
Snowden, who had worked at Dell and the CIA, was hired as a contract employee by the country’s national intelligence agency, the NSA, in 2013.
In this situation, he escaped to Hong Kong with secret documents in May of the same year. Later he gave thousands of confidential documents to reporters. After those details were published in ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Washington Post’ magazines, Snowden Bear became famous internationally.
The US Department of Justice filed a case against Snowden under the Espionage Act of 1917 and froze his passport.
After that, Snowden fled to Russia. When the Russian authorities came to know that his passport was canceled there, he ordered him to stay at the Moscow airport for more than a month.
He was later granted asylum for one year, which was renewed again and again.
Snowden was granted permanent residency in Russia in 2020.
In this situation, the order issued by President Vladimir Putin to grant the citizenship of the country to 75 foreigners staying in Russia was published on Monday. Edward Snowden’s name is also included in it.
While one side has accused him of treason against the United States by leaking classified documents, his actions are said to have prompted the need to strike a balance between national security and the need to protect the public’s right to privacy.