WASHINGTON, Dec 2 The White House declined to comment on obtaining a Russian passport ex-employee of the American intelligence services Edward Snowden, recalled that a criminal investigation is underway against him in the United States. , — said White House spokesman John Kirby.
Snowden received Russian citizenship at the end of September by presidential decree. On Friday, his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters that Snowden had already taken the oath and received a Russian passport. According to the lawyer, Russian citizenship protects him from being extradited to another state, since the Russian Constitution enshrines the principle of the inadmissibility of the expulsion of a Russian citizen.
In June 2013, Snowden initiated a major international scandal by handing over a number of classified materials to the Washington Post and Guardian newspapers about the surveillance programs of the US and UK intelligence agencies on the Internet. After that, he flew to Hong Kong, and from there to Moscow, where he spent some time in the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport.
After refusals from a number of other countries, Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum for a year, provided that he will cease his activities against the United States. In August 2014, Snowden received a three-year residence permit in the Russian Federation, subsequently he was issued an indefinite residence permit.