Anatoly Kucherena, former CIA contractor Edward Snowden's lawyer, stated on Thursday that his client has received a permanent residence permit in Russia.
"Edward Snowden has received a permanent residence permit in Russia", the lawyer said, adding that the procedure had taken longer than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013. He fled the United States after leaking classified documents showing that the National Security Agency was collecting the telephone records of millions of US citizens. He is wanted in the United States on espionage charges.
In September 2019, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the whistleblower over claims that he violated non-disclosure obligations by not submitting his original autobiography to the government for review before publishing.
A federal judge ruled in December that the US government was entitled to all the profits from the original version of the autobiography due to this violation.