Whistleblowing

Snowden Slams "Corrupt" Russian Government Amid Rumors He's "Bargaining Chip" In Trump-Russia Summit

While Russia's citizens are "warm and clever", Snowden said he "strongly" disagreed with the government's policies. "I think the public feels disempowered. Russians are not naive, they know that state TV is unreliable. The Russian government is corrupt in many ways, that’s something the Russian people realize," the 35-year-old told German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. [...]

"Russian people are warm, they are clever. It’s a beautiful country. Their government is the problem not the people."

After leaking thousands of pages of documents detailing top-secret NSA programs back in 2013, Snowden was famously granted asylum in Russia after his flight from Hong Kong made a last-minute emergency landing in Moscow. He faces three charges under the Espionage Act that could carry a combined sentence of 30 years in jail. Snowden can legally remain in Russia until 2020.

"There’s no question, it’s a risk. Maybe they don’t care, right? Because I don’t speak Russian...and I am literally a former CIA agent, so it’s very easy for them to discredit my political opinions as those of an American CIA agent in Russia."