Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Activists on social media reacted to the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to grant Russian citizenship to the former contractor with the US National Security Agency, Edward Snowden.
The journalist Abdel Bari Atwan commented on the news in a tweet in which he said: “Russia granted its citizenship to the American Sindon, who exposed his country’s secret documents in defiance of Biden, which means that he was never handed over according to Russian law as a Russian citizen. Putin plays his cards intelligently against the American opponent at all levels, and God knows.”
For his part, writer Abdullah Al-Shayji tweeted: “The joke in Russia today after President Putin granted Edward Snowden Russian citizenship to defy America on charges of violating the espionage law since 2013 – and fled to Moscow and resides in Russia 2013! Today, Putin can send Snowden with the reserve forces to the killer and doom in Ukraine “.
Snowden has admitted to leaking information about US surveillance programs to the press, has been in Russia since 2013, faces espionage charges in the United States and faces up to 30 years in prison.