Russia extended residence permit for Snowden
Russian authorities have extended former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Edward Snowden’s residence permit in the Russian Federation for two more years, as stated by the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, on her Facebook page.
"The funny thing is that the former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency doesn’t know that Snowden’s residence permit in Russia has just been extended for two more years," she wrote when commenting on the statement by the former Deputy Director of the CIA, Michael Morell, who stated that there is a “good possibility” that Russia plans to extradite Snowden to the U.S. as an inauguration gift to the newly elected President of the U.S.A., Donald Trump. It was earlier reported that a petition to pardon Snowden was signed by more than a million people.
In 2013 Snowden gave journalists secret documents that proved the U.S. government was monitoring the telephone calls of ordinary citizens. Snowden managed to flee to Hong Kong and then to Russia where he obtained asylum and still resides.
In the U.S., Snowden has been charged with theft of state property, the illegal use of information relating to national defense, and the deliberate dissemination of confidential information.