Storied NSA whistleblower turned cybersecurity activist has a brand new credential so as to add to his identify: Russian citizen.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted the 39-year-old American whistleblower citizenship almost 10 years after he blew the lid off the National Security Agency’s huge home and worldwide spying equipment according to Reuters. Those revelations set off a global manhunt for the previous intelligence contractor which finally landed him in Russia the place he was granted asylum.

Snowden’s identify reportedly appeared on an inventory of 72 foreign-born people granted citizenship by Putin. Neither Snowden nor Putin have publicly commented on the reported citizenship. The Kremlin didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s request for remark.

U.S. authorities and a minimum of two presidents have spent the higher a part of the previous decade making an attempt to return Snowden to the U.S. to face espionage trials. While his whistleblower revelations are seen by many as a few of the most consequential surveillance disclosures in U.S. historical past, multiple intelligence agencies and lots of conservative lawmakers argue these revelations hindered U.S. navy and espionage operations.

Snowden has spent years vying, unsuccessfully, to acquire a presidential pardon, first from Barack Obama, after which later from Donald Trump. The whistleblower has repeatedly claimed he would return to the U.S. if he have been assured a good trial in entrance of a jury. Though Snowden and lots of of his supporters preserve his NSA disclosures clearly benefited the general public, the Espionage Act beneath which he’s charged reportedly prevents defendants from arguing their actions have been made within the public curiosity. That authorized useless finish reportedly led Snowden to hunt a presidential pardon.

“Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists—or 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, these were vital things,” Snowden mentioned in 2016 according to The Guardian.

Those efforts have been shot down by Obama, who incorrectly claimed he “can’t pardon somebody who hasn’t gone before a court and presented themselves.” Snowden in 2013 claimed the Obama administration blocked his efforts to acquire political asylum within the U.S.

Trump, however, vaguely signaled better curiosity in Snowden’s case in the direction of the top of his tenure, and in 2020 told The New York Post he was trying into the potential of a pardon. “There are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly,” Trump mentioned.

Then once more, seven years prior Trump referred to Snowden as a “terrible traitor,” deserving of the demise penalty. President Biden has up to now largely kept away from weighing in on Snowden’s case.

Snowden’s new Russian citizenship will possible make any of the whistleblower’s efforts to return to the U.S. all of the extra unlikely. The citizenship additionally comes as Russia’s knee deep in worldwide sanctions and struggling to take care of its flailing battle in Ukraine. Last week, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of reservists that many observers noticed as a precursor to navy conscription. The president claimed that preliminary mobilization would solely apply to residents with previous navy expertise. Though some questioned if these standards now utilized, Meduza’s Kevin Rothrock cited the whistleblower’s lawyer who reportedly mentioned the recruitment would solely legally apply to residents with a navy background within the Russian armed service.