FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2015, file photo, Edward Snowden appears on a live video feed broadcast from Moscow at an event sponsored by ACLU Hawaii in Honolulu. Speaking via Skype from Russia, Snowden told an audience of supporters in New Hampshire on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016, that he is willing to be extradited to the United States if the federal government would guarantee he would get a fair trial. The former National Security Agency contractor in 2013 leaked details of a secret government eavesdropping program and left the country. He faces U.S. charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia, File)
Snowden
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency.
He has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the U.S. after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs. He was granted permanent residency in 2020.
Snowden has said he made the disclosures because he believed the U.S. intelligence community had gone too far and wrongly infringed on civil liberties. Snowden, 39, is considered by supporters to be a whistleblower who wanted to protect American civil liberties.
He currently faces charges of unauthorized disclosure of U.S. national security and intelligence information that could result in decades in prison.
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