Lindsay Mills has lived in the country for over a decade, since joining her NSA whistleblower husband, who fled the US

Lindsay Mills, the wife of former US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden, has applied for Russian citizenship, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena has confirmed.

Mills has "lived in Russia for more than five years," qualifying her to apply under Russian law, and is "undergoing the standard procedure for citizenship" Kucherena said.

The American national, a former acrobat and blogger, gained international attention in 2013 as Snowden's partner.

That year, he leaked a vast trove of classified files revealing extensive surveillance activities by the US and British intelligence agencies. The leaks, first published by The Guardian and The Washington Post, prompted Snowden to flee the US.

After several rejections from other countries, the whistleblower fled to Moscow. After a month of being stranded in an airport terminal, he was granted asylum.

Mills joined Snowden in Moscow in October 2014, having left the US to live in exile. The couple married in 2017 and have two children, both of whom were born in Russia and received Russian citizenship at birth.

Snowden was granted Russian citizenship by presidential decree in September 2022.

After exposing US intelligence operations, his US passport was revoked, leaving him in legal limbo. Although still a US citizen, Snowden was unable to travel abroad. By obtaining Russian citizenship, he became immune to deportation, as Russian law forbids the extradition of its citizens to other countries.

Snowden has repeatedly expressed his desire to return to the US, and has said he would do so if guaranteed a fair trial.

In 2020, during his first term, President Donald Trump said he would "take a look" at pardoning the whistleblower, but left office in January 2021 without doing so.

In November, insiders told The New York Post that Snowden has some powerful supporters in Trump's cabinet. President Donald Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, Republican Tulsi Gabbard, co-sponsored a resolution in September 2020 calling on the US to drop all charges against Snowden.

A person close to Gabbard told the newspaper that clemency for Snowden remained an important issue to her, and that she would likely push for that in Trump's second term.

Another apparent Snowden backer is Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who Trump has nominated to serve as health secretary in his administration. While campaigning for president in May last year, he told the Libertarian National Convention that he would "pardon Edward Snowden" if elected.

(RT.com)