Putin grants Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden

Putin grants Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden

Subject: Culture

Context: President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed by the Russian leader.

Concept:

• Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.
• He was granted permanent residency in 2020 and said at the time that he planned to apply for Russian citizenship, without renouncing his U.S. citizenship.
• Moscow several years ago relaxed its citizenship laws to allow individuals to hold Russian passports without rejecting their original nationalities.

Dual Citizenship

• Dual citizen status is a legal recognition in which an individual is considered a citizen of more than a country under the regulations of those countries at the same time.
• There is no convention that determines a person’s nationality or citizenship status. This is solely defined by laws, which can differ and conflict with one another. Dual citizenship countries arise as a result of different countries’ use of different and is not necessary to be mutually exclusive, citizenship criteria.
• A person with multiple citizenships is generally entitled to the same rights of citizenship within every country in which they hold citizenship, such as the right to a passport, the right to stay in the country, the right to work, the right to own property, the right to vote, and so on.
• Some of the prominent countries which allow for dual citizenship are the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Portugal, Argentina, Scotland, Denmark, Mexico, Iceland, etc.