In a move that will surprise very few people familiar with Vladimir Putin’s tactics, the Russian president granted citizenship to famous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
A Reuters report said that Snowden’s name appeared on a list of 72 people granted Russian citizenship and jokesters already asked if Snowden could be drafted.
In short: no.
According to Reuters, “Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA news agency that his client could not be called up because he had not previously served in the Russian army.”
Edward Snowden is safe from the draft announced by Putin days ago to pad up his invasion of Ukraine, the first draft in the country since World War 2.
For his part, Snowden posted on Twitter that he only desires to be with his wife and sons.
“After two years of waiting and nearly ten years of exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family. I pray for privacy for them – and for us all,” he wrote.
As with most world leaders, Putin shied away from defending Snowden’s actions to leak US secrets on surveillance but said he was “not a traitor” back in 2017.
As for Snowden’s US status, he is still on shaky ground. While in 2020 an US appeals court judged that the technology NSA employed for surveillance over regular citizens was unlawful, though he still faces a criminal trial on espionage charges if he comes back.
Snowden had tried unsuccessfully to get president pardons from both Barack Obama and Donald Trump but has not appealed to Joe Biden so far.
Also read: Watch Live: Edward Snowden Launches Global Encryption Day
Follow TechTheLead on Google News to get the news first.
