US whistleblower Edward Snowden takes oath as Russian citizen

MOSCOW

US whistleblower Edward Snowden took an oath as a Russian citizen and obtained the country's passport, his lawyer said on Friday.

Snowden's wife Lindsay Mills also applied for the Russian citizenship, Anatoly Kucherena said in an interview with the Russian state-run news agency TASS.

On Sept. 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to Snowden.

Snowden, former US National Security Agency contractor, who leaked thousands of documents detailing a long-term surveillance program by the US government, was given asylum in Russia in 2013.

In 2014, Snowden's long-term girlfriend Mills joined him in Russia, they got married in 2017, and had a son in 2020.