Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence adviser Edward Snowden, nine years after his revelations showing the extent of surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Snowden, now 39, fled the United States and took asylum in Russia after the 2013 leak of secret files revealing massive domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, where he worked.
US authorities have for years wanted him to return to the United States to face criminal trial on espionage charges.
Edward Joseph Snowden was born on June 21, 1983 and is a technician (systems administrator). On a contract basis, he worked for the NSA and the CIA. In 2013, Snowden leaked classified information from the NSA to the press about the mass surveillance programs implemented by the American and British governments. The information reveals the surveillance programs run by the NSA with the cooperation of telecommunications companies and European governments.
On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after quitting his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and in early June he leaked thousands of classified agency documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Ewen MacAskill. Immediately after and for a very long time the leaked information was circulated in the newspapers, The Guardian and The Washington Post, Der Spiegel and The New York Times.
