Russia Grants Citizenship To Edward Snowden

MOSCOW (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency. He has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the U.S. after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs. He was granted permanent residency in 2020. Snowden has said he made the disclosures because he believed the U.S. intelligence community had gone too far and wrongly infringed on civil liberties. Snowden, 39, is considered by supporters to be a whistle-blower who wanted to protect American civil liberties.  He currently faces charges of unauthorized disclosure of U.S. national security and intelligence information that could result in decades in prison.