NSA super-leaker Edward Snowden granted Russian citizenship
- Reference: 1664222010
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/09/26/snowden_russian_citizenship/
- Source link:
On Monday, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, issued [1]a decree [PDF, not secure] naming Snowden (#53), among others, as being granted the boon of Russian citizenship.
After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our SONS.After two years of waiting and nearly ten years of exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family. I pray for privacy for them—and for us all. [2]https://t.co/24NUK21TAo [3]pic.twitter.com/qLfp47uzZ4 — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) [4]September 26, 2022
Snowden had been an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton doing contract work for the NSA in Hawaii until he took a leave of absence and [5]traveled to Hong Kong in May 2013. The following month, classified documents he provided to The Washington Post, The Guardian, and others formed the basis of news reports that revealed the [6]vast scope of US signals intelligence gathering and forced the IT industry to rethink cloud and network security. Nearly a decade later, the implications of those revelations continue to shape IT security.
While Snowden's status as [7]a whistleblower is [8]disputed by the US government , the surveillance apparatus he exposed – the bulk collection of US phone records – [9]was found to be unlawful .
[10]
Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013 when the US charged him with espionage and he flew from Hong Kong to Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport [11]with the help of WikiLeaks and ended up stranded in Russia with a canceled passport. He was granted asylum in Russia and temporary residency until October 2020, when he became a permanent resident. He and his wife Lindsay [12]reportedly applied for citizenship the following month.
[13]Edward Snowden's 40 days in a Russian airport – by the woman who helped him escape
[14]Global spy system ECHELON confirmed at last – by leaked Snowden files
[15]NSA whistleblower to tech firms, Obama: 'Grow a pair!'
[16]The Edward Snowden guide to practical privacy
The citizenship comes at an awkward time. Putin last week signed what he described as [17]a "partial mobilization" order to conscript soldiers for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The war has resulted in severe losses for the Russian military, which now needs to replenish its forces. Per its regulations, Russia can call up men and women [18]between the ages of 18 and 60 , even reportedly recruiting those in prison to fight.
The Russian callup is supposed to be for citizens with military training, which Snowden has. He enlisted in the US Army but was invalided out due to injuries suffered during special forces training.
[19]
Shortly after the start of Russia's war with Ukraine on February 24, 2022, University of Chicago political economist [20]Konstantin Sonin estimated in March that at least 200,000 people had fled Russia to avoid the consequences of the conflict. With the recent mobilization order, an additional exodus of Russians fleeing conscription has been [21]reported at border crossings into Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and elsewhere.
Snowden is 39 years old, but there's no indication that Russian authorities intend to send him to fight in Ukraine. Reports suggest the mobilization order will [22]disproportionately affect ethnic minorities in Russia . What's more, [23]according to Kevin Rothrock , managing editor for Russia-focused Meduza in English, Snowden's attorney has said his client's lack of prior registration with the Russian military keeps him from being eligible. While Snowden was briefly enlisted in the US Army in 2004, Russian authorities presumably appreciate his political value more than his battlefield potential.
[24]
The Register asked Snowden to comment, but we've not heard back. ®
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[1] http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202209260013?index=3&rangeSize=1
[2] https://t.co/24NUK21TAo
[3] https://t.co/qLfp47uzZ4
[4] https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1574490556654288896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/07/fleeing_snowden_hid_among_hong_kongs_refugees/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/10/david_cameron_defends_uk_spooks_as_prism_fallout_continues/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/10/prism_source_named_as_techie_edward_snowden/
[8] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/15/494157921/house-intel-panel-edward-snowden-was-no-whistleblower
[9] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54013527
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YzIg@GS6qco3uRQKqtyX9QAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/12/edward_snowden_wikileaks_sarah_harrison/
[12] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/02/edward-snowden-applies-for-russian-citizenship-for-sake-of-future-son
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/12/edward_snowden_wikileaks_sarah_harrison/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2015/08/03/gchq_duncan_campbell/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/17/ed_snowden_questions_nsa_policy/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2015/11/12/snowden_guide_to_practical_privacy/
[17] https://tass.ru/politika/15816959
[18] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-does-vladimir-putins-partial-mobilisation-mean-russias-military-machine-2022-09-21/
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YzIg@GS6qco3uRQKqtyX9QAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://twitter.com/k_sonin/status/1501244831045144579
[21] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russians-flee-georgia-after-putins-mobilisation-order-2022-09-26/
[22] https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/23/russia-partial-military-mobilization-ethnic-minorities/
[23] https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1574437251987263490
[24] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YzIg@GS6qco3uRQKqtyX9QAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Front line infantry, front line infantry....
Reports suggest the mobilization order will disproportionately affect ethnic minorities in Russia
Who'd have thought that a psychopath dictator would take this opportunity to "cleanse" "his" country of "undesirables"? I miss the times when this kind of stuff was pure scifi of absurdly oppressive regimes, like the Imperium of Man.
More than "undesirable", they are "expendable" - their deaths won't cause much troubles, as they come from poorer, less populated and isolated areas. Those areas never interested the Russian elites - they didn't even "colonized" them - they always preferred to dissipate their money in Paris or London, and treat them as cattle.
I believe that the Russian Empire has always drawn cannon fodder from the ethnic minorities and the poorer regions.
I believe that the Russian Empire has always drawn cannon fodder from the ethnic minorities and the poorer regions.
It's been like that ever since lords were called on by the Crown to raise the levvies. Helped fill the treasury, and prevent our ancient oligarchs from getting too powerful. War. War never changes. I think it's riskier for Ukraine given they've been doing the same thing, with several rounds of drafting & conscription. Including closing it's borders to stop men & women leaving. Well, the ones that aren't well connected anyway. It's made claims to boost it's military to 5m, which will be challenging given the way it's population has declined since it's 2014 coup.
Snowden will probably be safe because he's too valuable as a trophy.
If anyone is a master of finding stuff out on the internet, then Googling "How to break your arm" will be quite easy for Eddie Snowden.
Or just Google "Group W Bench".
I wonder
If he managed to get his hands on a bunch of Russian classified info, would all be forgiven and he'd be welcome back to the US? Though then his wife and her family would be on Putin's shit list no doubt, and as we've seen of late, people like that have an uncanny knack for falling off high places lately.
Probably the single biggest thing to advance the cause of world peace for a long time will likely be Putin's death. Be it the Russian people rising up as they've done in the past with "mad" Czars or through natural causes with whatever illness seems to be slowly killing him at the moment.
Re: I wonder
There's no way Russia would ever allow him access to anything remotely sensitive, given his history. They're mostly allowing him to stay there just to annoy the U.S., but they wouldn't trust him. Also, I wouldn't count on the U.S. being in a forgiving mood no matter what he could do to help.
Re: I wonder
Honestly, an American guy who can't even speak fluent Russian would be the most obvious double-agent in the Kreml. Besides, we pretty much know what he does on a daily basis - that is posting alarmist content on Twitter.
I'm not so sure about your comments on Putin - in the Western media he may be depicted as an evil dictator, but in Russia he's politically positioned on the center-right, most of the Russian political spectrum is far more extremist. It's like when Europe wished for the death of Tsar Nicholas without knowing that Lenin will follow.
Yeah, draft Snowden into FSB and see what fun leaks ensue as he flees to another country, AGAIN.
Fool me once right? I jest but this is really on the verge of being a stranger than fiction moment.
That said, his quote is pretty clear about why he would accept it in the middle of this shitstorm. He and his wife are in a complicated situation, and while they chose it, his kids did not. Without that piece of paper that family could easily be torn apart and scattered to the wind, and their well being may push him to accept the offer regardless of the optics or the cost.
It is also possible that Putin will let them flee Russia to another sanctuary nation at some point, just to piss of the US government. One of the things preventing it was the fact the US cancelled their passports. Or Putin can cash them in as a bargaining chip, but I suspect if the US wanted him back that bad Russia would have settled a price for them by now.
Most of the white-collar workers - including people in finance, academics, IT professionals - are exempt from the mobilization. But I thought it was pretty obvious that Snowden is a diplomatic trophy for Russia to be kept on the shelf, much like Assanage was for Ecuador for years.
PRISM
Has anyone been charged?
In your best Nelson voice: Ha Ha.