Whistleblower Edward Snowden Applies for Russian Citizenship

Former CIA employee Edward Snowden applies for Russian citizenship. Snowden, 37, has been wanted by Washington for espionage for years and is therefore residing in Russia, where he was recently given permanent residency status.

Snowden worked as a system administrator at the US central intelligence agency CIA. In 2013, he leaked sensitive information about the US security agency NSA to the media.

These were documents showing that the National Security Agency screened online communications on a large scale with a particular computer program.

Since June 2013, a US arrest warrant for espionage against Snowden in the US has been pending. The American fled to Russia, where he has lived for years now and where he recently received permanent residency status, which means he can stay there indefinitely.

Now Snowden also wants to apply for Russian nationality. He does this a few days after he and his partner announced that they were expecting a child.

“After years of separation from our parents, my spouse and I have no intention of being separated from our son,” he tweeted Monday. “That is why in these times of pandemics and closed borders, we are applying for dual US-Russian citizenship.”

Snowden emphasizes that he and his wife remain Americans and that they want to raise their son “with all the American values that we love, including the freedom to express his opinion.”