Edward Snowden has become a permanent resident of Russia years after leaking highly classified information.
As the whistleblower’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, revealed, his client has been granted permanent residency in Russia years after fleeing the United States.
Back in 2013, the former CIA employee and subcontractor leaked classified information he obtained from the National Security Agency in order to reveal how the US government is monitoring its citizens through secret mass surveillance programs.
After fleeing the country to escape the charges of espionage and theft of government property, Snowden found refuge in Russia where he was granted asylum and, later on, temporary residence.
As Kucherena now confirmed, the whistleblower has been granted permanent residence in the country. It will now be up to Snowden to decide whether or not to pursue Russian citizenship.
While Snowden previously expressed his desire to return to the States, pending charges against him forced him to stay abroad for as long as the case against him remains open.
Earlier in October, Snowden was ordered by a federal judge to pay $5.2million – the amount he made from his speeches and the sales of his book – to the U.S. government.
As the authorities said, Snowden’s book was published without the government’s approval and therefore breached the agreements the whistleblower signed with the CIA and the NSA.
In the book, the 37-year-old exposed highly classified information related to the government’s mass surveillance of phone calls, internet activity, and e-mails.
Following the book’s release, the whistleblower earned a total of more than $4.2 million from book sales and related rights.
Replaced!