Vladimir Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden

Seen in this 2013 file photo, Edward Snowden, who has confounded U.S. officials since his abrupt departure from the country two years ago, has found a new megaphone in Twitter. (AP / The Guardian)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted citizenship to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, nine years after he exposed the scale of secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, where he worked.

U.S. authorities have for years wanted him returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges.

There was no immediate reaction from Snowden, whose name appeared without any Kremlin comment on a list of 72 foreign-born individuals on whom Putin was conferring citizenship.

In 2020, Russia granted Snowden permanent residency rights, paving the way for him to obtain Russian citizenship.

That year a U.S. appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.

Putin, a former Russian spy chief, said in 2017 that Snowden, who keeps a low profile while living in Russia, was wrong to leak U.S. secrets but was not a traitor.

Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan