Whistleblower Edward Snowden is now American-Russian.

President Vladimir Putin granted this legal attribute to the former employee of the American NSA, a refugee in Russia since 2013 after leaving the United States, according to a decree published Monday, September 26.

Edward Snowden's name appears alongside dozens of others in this decree published on the Russian government's website.

Edward Snowden, 39, is wanted by the United States for having transmitted to the press tens of thousands of documents from the American National Security Agency (NSA) proving the extent of electronic surveillance carried out by Washington.

These revelations had then aroused very strong tensions between the United States and their allies, and the decision of the Russian authorities to grant him a residence permit had angered Washington.

>> See also, our Reporters: Edward Snowden's "guardian angels"

Snowden will not be mobilized for the war in Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Ria Novosti news agency that Russian citizenship was granted to Edward Snowden at his own request.

The whistleblower's Russian lawyer, Anatoli Koutcherena, for his part clarified that Edward Snowden would not be affected by the mobilization order for the war in Ukraine, decreed by Vladimir Putin last week for certain categories of Russians .

"He did not serve in the Russian army and therefore, according to our current legislation, he does not fall into this category of citizens who are now called up," he told the Ria Novosti agency.

According to him, Edward Snowden's partner, Lindsay Mills, has also applied for Russian citizenship and their daughter already has it, having been born in Russia.

Edward Snowden, deprived of his American passport at the request of Washington, found himself in Moscow in May 2013 after arriving there from Hong Kong and intending to find refuge in Latin America.

He eventually found himself stranded in Russia, where he was granted asylum.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app