US whistleblower Edward Snowden has defended his decision to accept Russian citizenship.
“I’m in Russia because the White House deliberately canceled my passport to keep me here,” Snowden said on Twitter.
country and continue to restrict my freedom of movement to this day.” Snowden was referring to an incident in 2013 when the Bolivian president’s plane was forced to land in Austria because overflight rights to other European countries were denied.
This incident happened when the plane took off from Russia, and there were suspicions that Snowden might be on board. Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Snowden Russian citizenship in September. Snowden also received a Russian passport this week, according to his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. Snowden is wanted by the US because, in 2013, he gave journalists documents about the spying activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart.
GCHQ. This man, 39, has stated several times that he applied for asylum in Russia out of necessity because he was threatened that he would be sent back to the US in other countries.” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday that Snowden has long demonstrated his honesty. in Russia.
Being a Russian citizen would also guarantee that status, Price said. Instead, he said the decision to apply for citizenship was made after his son was born in Russia so that he could have the same rights as his own.” This child, born in 2020, received the right to become a citizen of Russia.