Russia announces granting citizenship to former CIA employee Snowden, who defected from the United States

The Russian government has announced that it has granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who defected to Russia.

Former CIA employee, Edward Snowden, accused the US NSA = National Security Agency of secretly collecting a large amount of personal information such as call records and emails, and is suspected of leaking confidential information. He was indicted by US judicial authorities and defected to Russia in 2013.

The Russian government announced on the 26th that President Putin granted Russian citizenship to Snowden.

He already obtained permanent residency two years ago, and Snowden's lawyers say his American wife will also apply for Russian citizenship in the future.

There was speculation on social media that Mr. Snowden might also be a target of mobilization, as his citizenship was granted shortly after President Putin decided to partially mobilize the reserves as he continued to invade Ukraine. .

Mr. Snowden's lawyer denied this to the Russian state-run news agency, saying, "He has no military service experience and is not subject to mobilization."