Russia extends residence permit for disgraced contractor Edward Snowden

RUSSIAN authorities have extended a residence permit for US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked thousands of secret documents from the National Security Agency.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a post on Facebook late on Tuesday that Snowden’s residence permit has been extended for “a couple of years”.
Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013 when he became stuck in the transit area at a Moscow airport after the US cancelled his passport. The announcement comes as US President Barack Obama has commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, who was convicted for leaking more than 700,000 US documents.

Reporters asked presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday whether Snowden was planning to return to the US in reaction to the Manning pardon. Peskov said the Kremlin was not aware what Snowden’s plans were.
Snowden called on President Barack Obama to pardon him in September last year, saying it had been morally “necessary” for him to shine a light on mass surveillance.
The former intelligence contractor has spent three years in exile in Russia after initiating the largest data leaks in US history, fuelling a firestorm over the issue of mass surveillance.
“If not for these disclosures, if not for these revelations, we would be worse off,” he said.

“Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists — for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things,” he said.
The White House said President Barack Obama continued to believe that the former National Security Agency contractor should return to the United States to face charges for leaking classified information.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Snowden’s leaks “damaged the United States,” harmed national security and put Americans at risk.
He said Snowden will be “treated fairly and consistent with the law” if he returns to the US.
If convicted of the charges against him Snowden would face up to 30 years in prison.