Author of this article: Beiyue Qingfeng
According to Global Network , on September 26 local time, Putin signed a presidential decree and decided to grant Snowden Russian citizenship, which marks that after Snowden broke the "Prism Gate" incident in 2013, he finally had a formal and stable life after nine years of wandering.
The " prism door " revealed by Snowden has lost all his face in the United States
For a long time, Snowden has been a famous "Waterloo" in the British and American intelligence circles. Snowden is a former employee of the CIA and the NSA . In 2013, Snowden was hired by NSA contractor Boss Allen Hamilton after working at Dell Group and CIA and has since become a NSA employee.
It was at this time that Snowden began to contact some more core intelligence secrets. In 2013, Snowden revealed to the outside world the "Prism" plan of the Bush administration, which shocked the world. The so-called "Prism plan" is to convey information from people all over the world to the CIA. According to Snowden himself, since he was exposed to the program, he has gradually been disappointed with the projects he participated in. He tried to raise the moral problems he faced at work through internal channels, but was ignored.
Finally, under huge moral pressure, Snowden directly sent the US Security Agency's project on prism monitoring to many well-known media organizations such as the British " Guardian " and " Washington Post ". These foreign media naturally would not let go of such a shocking news.
It has to be said that as soon as the "Prism" plan was exposed, the United States was instantly criticized by the world, and its reputation was once again hit on a large scale. The most explosive power of the "Prism" project is that European allies, which have always been highly valued by the United States, are also under surveillance. The then German Chancellor, Merkel , was actually snatched by the United States for more than ten years, which instantly shattered the glass friendship between the United States and Europe. There was a voice of anger in Germany, and the transatlantic relations were severely impacted. The impact of the "Prism" plan on the US-European relations, especially the US-German relations, is completely comparable to the regression of US-German relations caused by the construction of the "North Stream 2" natural gas pipeline. This time, the "Prism Gate" once again brought the " Five Eyes Alliance " organization back to the focus of the world.
On the Snowden issue, in order to ease US-Russia relations, Russia has always taken low-key and not stimulating the United States to
"Prism Gate" has ruined the United States' face. After Snowden revealed, the United States began to conduct global wanted war on Snowden. In order to escape, he has been to many European countries, but these countries are afraid of the deterrence of the United States and dare not protect him politically. Later, Snowden fled to Russia as a refugee and applied for asylum. After promising not to disclose more information to the United States, he obtained the right to residency in Russia. In October 2020, Russia granted Snowden permanent residence. Unless he wanted to leave Russia, which is the safest for him, no one or organization would deport him, which means that Snowden is already considered a "quasi-Russian citizen."
So this time Putin signed the presidential decree and formally granted Snowden the Russian citizenship, which is basically a ceremony.
It is worth noting that since 2013, Snowden has lived in Russia for 9 years. Why was Snowden officially awarded the status of "Russian citizen" at this time?
The reason is simple. Although Snowden himself entered Russia to take refuge and Russia also provided permission, Russia has always been unwilling to break completely with the United States and has always had a desire to improve relations with the United States. After the "Crimea referendum" in 2014, the United States and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, but the sanctions in 2014 did not completely break Russia and the United States, and the two sides still maintain close economic and diplomatic ties.
Especially after Trump entered White House , his frequent demonstrations made Russia have a desire to improve relations and lift sanctions on Russia. After all, for Russia, lifting sanctions on Russia plays an important role in Russia's economic development. Therefore, Russia does not want to overstimulate the United States. While Snowden was staying in Russia, he kept dealing with this matter in a low-key manner, which is to leave a window for the easing of US-Russia relations. However, at the end of Trump's administration, after waiting for Trump for nearly four years, Russia discovered that the US-Russia relations were increasingly moving to the bottom, and the room for return was getting smaller and smaller. Against this background, Russia simply granted Snowden " permanent residence ".
Behind Snowden's acquisition of Russian nationality is the complete breakup between the United States and Russia. Russia no longer has any concerns
This time Putin signed a presidential decree to formally grant Snowden the identity of "Russian nationality" and "official citizenship of Russia". This is an important symbol, which marks that Russia has completely abandoned its desire to improve relations with the United States.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the US-Russia relations have reached a historical low. The United States has imposed severe sanctions on Russia. In addition to maintaining superficial diplomatic relations, the two countries also have an embassy for general exchanges, and the ties between the two countries have basically been completely cut off. What is more noteworthy is that at the special meeting of the Ukrainian crisis held by the UN Security Council in not long ago, the foreign ministers of the United States and Russia launched a wave of verbal confrontations at the Security Council, and the smell of gunpowder was very full of gunpowder. Against the backdrop of a complete breakup between the United States and Russia, Russia naturally no longer has to worry about it in the Snowden incident and simply granted Snowden Russian citizenship directly.
It is worth noting that Snowden's naturalization to Russia has another background, that is, Russia is mobilizing in some areas. Regarding Putin's grant of Snowden "Russian nationality", a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department mentioned one thing, that is, Snowden is likely to be recruited into the army, because the target of this Russian mobilization is citizens with Russian nationality. However, Snowden's lawyer denied the US State Department's statement. The reason is very simple. Snowden has no experience in joining the military, so how could he go to the front line to fight?
There is another analysis that believes that the battlefield is not necessarily all concentrated on the front lines of Russia and Ukraine, and the intelligence community is also a major field. Snowden is a genius hacker and a technical analyst of the US Intelligence Agency. It cannot be ruled out that Snowden is mobilized to enter Russian intelligence agency . However, this statement is still worth discussing. Snowden has been away from the intelligence field for a long time. Since he left the United States to take refuge in Russia, the US intelligence agencies have also made certain changes. It remains to be seen how much role Snowden can play and whether he will be mobilized to enter the Russian intelligence agencies.
In any case, Putin granted Snowden the official "Russian citizen" status this time. This means that Russia and the United States have completely broken their faces. For a long time in the future, it will be difficult for the US-Russia relations to turn around again.
