Russia reportedly grants NSA whistleblower Snowden permanent residency

Snowden’s Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told the state-run agency that his client was “given a permanent residence permit” but was not yet considering applying for a Russian passport.

In a separate interview with Reuters, Kucherena said that Snowden’s Russian residency permit was expiring “and we asked to extend it.”.

President Donald Trump said in August that he was considering a pardon for Snowden, who is facing espionage charges in the U.S.

He has previously defended his decision to make the files public, saying in interviews that he acted out of the belief that the spying program was illegal and immoral

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the NSA program that Snowden exposed was unlawful and that the U.S