Return of goods

Russia considers the possibility of issuing the exposure of the American special services of Edward Snowden as a “gift” to US President Donald Trump. This was reported by NBC with reference to sources in intelligence.

The issuance of Snowuden is considered by the Russian authorities as one of the ways to "curry up" in front of Trump, a senior American official said. He referred to a number of secret documents with information about the Russian agenda. The second source in the intelligence community notes that Snowden's information was collected after Trump's inauguration.

The publication notes that Trump called Snowden a "spy" and "traitor" who deserves the execution.

The American lawyer Snowden Ben Wizzer said that he did not know any plans for issuing his client in the United States. "The Snowden team did not receive such signals and has no new reasons for concern," the lawyer said.

Snowden himself wrote on Twitter that rumors about his issuance are proved that he did not cooperate with Russian intelligence. “Not a single country will give out spies working on it: everyone else will be afraid that will be the following,” he said.

Rumors about the possible issuance of Snowden appeared earlier. On Tuesday, lawyer Anatoly Kucheren said that the Russian side did not receive any documents about his extradition. "Until today, Edward Snowden has not been charged, no request against the Russian Federation on extradition has been received," Kucheren said.

On January 18, the official representative of the Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that the Russian authorities extended Snowden a residence permit for another two years. “As the media reports, the former deputy head of the CIA Michael Morell said that the President of Russia has an“ excellent opportunity ”to make a gift to the elected president Donald Trump for the inauguration, giving the United States former employee of the American intelligence services of Edward Snowden,” Zakharova wrote. The funniest is that the former deputy head of the CIA (!!!) does not know that Snoweden has just been extended A residence in Russia for a couple of years. "

In the USA, Snowden is wanted. For the publication of secret information, he faces a imprisonment for at least 30 years. In September, Snowden asked President Barack Obama to have mercy on him . “Yes, the laws recorded in books say one thing, but probably pardon was invented for this. For exceptional cases. For situations that may seem to be a violation of the law on paper, but which are necessary if you look at them from an ethical and moral point of view,” Snowden said.

Snowden emphasized that he was still convinced that it was not for nothing that in 2013 he revealed information about the scale of the surveillance, which is conducted by the American and British intelligence services. According to him, the publication of secret documents benefited to US citizens, and was also correct from the point of view of morality. In addition, she led to positive changes in American society.

"The US Congress and the president changed the policy as a result of these revelations. At the same time, there was no evidence that this information caused harm to someone," Snowden believes.