Putin Just Made Edward Snowden a Russian Citizen

A Russian citizen has been added to his name as a Cybersecurity Activist.

After blowing the lid off the National Security Agency's vast domestic and international espionage apparatus, a 39-year-old American was granted Russian citizenship on Monday. The former intelligence contractor was granted asylum in Russia after being exposed as a liar.

A list of 72 foreign born individuals were granted citizenship by Putin. The reported citizenship of the two men has not been commented upon by them. The Kremlin did not respond right away.

Over the past decade, the U.S. authorities and two presidents have spent a lot of time trying to get him back to the U.S. Some of the most consequential disclosures in U.S. history are viewed by many as the result of his whistle blowing.

After trying for years to get a presidential pardon from Barack Obama, he finally got one from Donald trump. If he were given a fair trial, he would return to the U.S. The Espionage Act makes it difficult for defendants to argue that their actions were in the public interest. The legal dead end is said to have led to the request for a pardon.

It's possible that the pardon power exists because there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that's perhaps why the exceptions are there.

Obama wrongly claimed that he can't pardon someone who hasn't gone before a court and presented themselves. The Obama administration was accused of blocking his attempts to get political asylum in the US.

In 2020 Trump told The New York Post that he was looking into the possibility of a pardon for the man who leaked classified information. A lot of people think that he is being treated unfairly.

Seven years prior, Trump referred to the person as a "terrible traitor" deserving of the death penalty. President Biden hasn't weighed in on the case yet.

Any attempts by the whistle blower to return to the U.S. will be more difficult now that he is a Russian citizen. Russia is struggling to maintain its war in Ukraine and has become a citizen. Many observers saw Putin's announcement last week as a way to get people to join the military. The president said that citizens with military experience would be the only ones who would be called up. The lawyer for the whistle blower said that the recruitment would only apply to people with a military background.