27th September 2022 – (Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, the infamous American former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and subcontractor.
Snowden is one of 75 foreign nationals listed by the decree as being granted Russian citizenship. A decree published on an official government website includes Snowden as one of the 75 foreign nationals who were granted citizenship.
In April 2020, an amendment to Russian nationality law allowing foreigners to obtain Russian citizenship without renouncing a foreign citizenship came into force. In November 2020, Snowden announced that he and his wife, Lindsay, who was expecting their son in late December, were applying for dual U.S.-Russian citizenship in order not to be separated from him “in this era of pandemics and closed borders.” On 26th September 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to Snowden.