Edward Snowden swears allegiance to Russia and receives passport, lawyer says
Source: Washington Post
Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about U.S. surveillance programs, swore an oath of allegiance to Russia and has collected his Russian passport, his lawyer told state media on Friday.
Edward received a Russian passport yesterday and took the oath in accordance with the law, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said, according to Russias Interfax news agency. He is, of course, happy, thanking the Russian Federation for the fact that he received citizenship, he continued. And most importantly, under the Constitution of Russia, he can no longer be extradited to a foreign state.
Snowden, 39, is wanted by Washington on espionage charges. He argues that his actions were in the interests of the United States. In any case, his revelations exposed the breadth of U.S. digital spying programs and altered the publics understanding of technology, privacy and digital security.
Its unclear whether Snowden swore the oath of allegiance at the same time as he was granted a passport, but the two are common procedures when foreigners become Russian citizens. The text includes swearing to protect the freedom and independence of the Russian Federation, to be loyal to Russia, to respect its culture, history and traditions, and to promise to perform the duties of a citizen of the Russian Federation for the good of the state and society.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/02/edward-snowden-russian-citizenship/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_fix&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38789a8%2F638a6ebe9d88976ba348c892%2F62101276ade4e27e805c796a%2F38%2F51%2F638a6ebe9d88976ba348c892&wp_cu=5d2d531c09ee47b25be9cf659633b3d5%7CD8529A03CA9C7F78E0530100007FC8E3
AllaN01Bear
(18,009 posts)thomski64
(451 posts)..free Donbas for the Glory of
Putinkim...
nycbos
(6,034 posts)... that won't happen. He still valuable a propaganda asset for the regime.
Escurumbele
(3,379 posts)new country? I say he is going...
emulatorloo
(44,071 posts)Snowden swore his oath and received his passport as Moscow continued its war on Ukraine, now in its 10th month. His lawyer, Kucherena, said when Snowden was granted citizenship that he would not be subject to the partial military mobilization that Putin had decreed days before, since only men with previous military experience were being called up. However, it has been widely reported that many Russians without such experience have been summoned for duty in recent months.
Pobeka
(4,999 posts)I wouldn't put it past the Russians to make a show of Snowden heading to war in Ukraine just for propaganda purposes.
I suspect Snowden is between a rock and a hard place, as they say.
emulatorloo
(44,071 posts)forgotmylogin
(7,521 posts)"Actually, no more guns. And only one boot. We do have for you this sturdy piece of wood and pack of sunflower seeds. Ukraine is over there. Do svidaniya, Comrade!"
wendyb-NC
(3,304 posts)I wonder if he will be required to enlist in the Russian Military?
speak easy
(9,189 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,351 posts)stopdiggin
(11,248 posts)I don't follow the man and/or his exploits closely, so I will refrain ...
Other than to say that - from very early on - I think he has always lent himself to skepticism concerning motivation ..
LiberalFighter
(50,793 posts)moniss
(4,184 posts)any doubt who was pulling his strings. Now since it's official maybe his main supporter Glenn Greenwald will welcome him at a Putin reception.
marble falls
(57,013 posts)ExtremelyWokeMatt
(161 posts)There are many many things Id go through to *not* swear allegiance to them. Actually
I think Id have to pass through multiple afterlives and find a parallel universe where they somehow arent massive coercive assholes to even consider overt friendship with the state after learning about what theyve done in this universe. Its a shame Putin got into office and brought back all of the KGB style muck.
They couldve reconstructed properly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Still can technically
but kind of hard when theyre hellbent on corrupt governance and dont give two figs about anyone not purely ethnically tied to St. Petersburg or whatever. I imagine once the people have had enough though the oligarchs, mafia, and local cronies will finally get kicked to the curb though. They have a lot of healing to do internally and culturally, once the abuse is stopped anyway.
Kablooie
(18,612 posts)Kennah
(14,234 posts)paleotn
(17,884 posts)Bueller? Bueller?
BWdem4life
(1,652 posts)than to out themselves on this site and subject themselves to the bullying that would inevitably occur.
paleotn
(17,884 posts)Hell, I get that every day from my better half.
Marthe48
(16,905 posts)And all of the other traitors.
roamer65
(36,744 posts)dchill
(38,450 posts)"No more."
LudwigPastorius
(9,110 posts)If he flees to the waiting arms of Mother Russia to avoid espionage charges, he'll eventually be accepted as a citizen.
Do it, you fat, oily, orange fuck.
Xipe Totec
(43,888 posts)IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)cstanleytech
(26,244 posts)GoldandSilver
(186 posts)The US government deliberately funneled Snowden to Russia, it was not something he wanted to do but he didnt have much of a choice. Flee to Russia and the unknown and allow the US government to ruin his reputation or surrender to US authorities to be imprisoned, possibly for life.
Snowdens intention was to alert Americans to the fact their government has a huge big brother spy program that targets all Americans and they were lying through their teeth about it. It was his love of country and the American principles of democracy that led him to violate his oath of secrecy in the first place.
Russia gave him safe harbor. The US government and its propaganda machine continues to vilify him. Russia employs their own propaganda machine, using Snowden for their own purposes.
Snowden is a whistle blower and he deserves a level of gratitude for the sacrifices he made, even if his efforts were misplaced or misguided. He acted out of love, not hate. It is my hope he is able to restore his faith in humanity and live a good life where ever he chooses without fear.
BeyondGeography
(39,351 posts)In a racist, homophobic, kleptocratic, fascist hellhole led by a war criminal.
Hes a damned fool.
mysteryowl
(7,363 posts)I am surprised so many on this thread think he is a trader. This is DU, I thought.
paleotn
(17,884 posts)I know whistle blowers. They've been friends of mine. So take it from me, Snowden is no whistle blower.
stopdiggin
(11,248 posts)the attention seeking and self aggrandizement ... And then you can move on to his methodology - and the company that he chose as associates and fellow travelers ... Mix in a little 'brightest guy in the room' hubris, justification and self entitlement ...
----- --- --- ------
It is hard for the self serving (and supremely entitled) - to have much of a grasp on true 'service.'
markpkessinger
(8,392 posts). . . and he has been fully supportive of Snowden. Do you suppose that you know more about what it means to be a whistleblower than Ellsberg?
paleotn
(17,884 posts)okojo
(76 posts)Last edited Sat Dec 3, 2022, 10:42 PM - Edit history (1)
Snowden lied about his need of a leave of absence at Booz Hamilton, the contractor for the NSA. He had been downloading data and documents for months before he fled the US.. Snowden has bragged he was some high level NSA employee when he was in reality he was a junior analyst working for others at a NSA facility in Hawaii for Booz Hamilton..
Snowden most likely was targeted by the Russians since 2007, when he was a contractor working for the US Consulate at Geneva.. He also worked in New Delhi.. Snowden most likely took his job in Hawaii with Booz Hamilton, with the purpose to download and access documents.. Snowden lied to his fellow employees about the need to access their password for computer maintenance, when he was actually using the passwords for access to take more files, many of them Dept of Defense Files.. Snowden took over 1.8 million documents..
Russia had to use PR, because it was better to portray Edward Snowden as a Whistleblower, than as a Russian Spy..
Snowden has lied about lots of his stuff, that he was hired as a hacker for both the CIA and NSA, when in reality he worked as a contractor trying to maintain software and mainframes of the NSA and CIA.. (one of his employees was Dell)
stopdiggin
(11,248 posts)of self aggrandizement. The real story is something quite different.
It's too bad so many were taken in (in large part because the transgressions of Security were in fact sweeping) - which doesn't change the fact that the Snowden's story is largely invented, and largely smoke screen for what really transpired.
paleotn
(17,884 posts)If they haven't already. Sorry. Ain't buying it. Lots of ACTUAL whistle blowers were and are brave enough to come forward and face the music for their actions. To let the rule of law judge their actions. Snowden is a coward and ran away. Maybe because he wasn't a whistle blower after all, but a garden variety traitor. Since his case won't be adjudicated anytime soon, we may never know for sure.
mitch96
(13,871 posts)Hekate
(90,564 posts)markpkessinger
(8,392 posts). . . which presumably he wants some kind of life with. That certainly couldn't have happened had he returned to the U.S. Will his life be all that he might have wished for? Probably not. But it is a life. And he never set out to go to Russia; the U.S. stranded him there when it revoked his passport.
Lest we forget, Snowden was charge under the Espionage Act of 1917, an egregious relic of the Wilson administration that was passed to try to stifle dissent over our involvement in WWI. That law allows for no defense that one was acting in the public interest, and that fact rendered the possibility of receiving a fair trial in this country out of the question.
paleotn
(17,884 posts)He's about Snowden. Always has been. Nothing more. Nothing less.