The whistleblower of the United States, Edward Snowden, has been granted Russian citizenship, as per the decree signed by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin and published on Monday.
Snowden, a former employee of the US intelligence services CIA and NSA, leaked classified information about large-scale data collection by the NSA to the media in 2013.
In June 2013, a warrant was issued in the United States against Snowden for espionage. The now 39-year-old American fled to Russia, where he was granted permanent resident status.
His name has now appeared in a decree alongside dozens of other individuals who have been granted Russian citizenship. The text was published on the Russian government’s website on Monday.
Snowden is not eligible for the partial mobilisation that Putin announced earlier this month, according to his lawyer Anatoli Kocherena, since he “has not served in the Russian army and is not part of the reservists.”