Former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking details about once-secret surveillance programs, will be allowed to work in his field as a key deal in his being granted permission to stay in Russia for three more years, his lawyer said Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
Snowden last year was granted temporary asylum of one year in Russia, but that expired on Aug. 1, the AP reported.
His lawyer, Analtoly Kucherena, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Snowden now has been granted residency for three more years, but that he had not been granted political asylum, according to the AP.
Kucherena said Snowden is working in the information-technology field and that holding a job was a key consideration in extending his residency, the AP reported. The lawyer didn't give details of where Snowden is working and said Snowden is under the protection of a private guard service.
That status, which would allow him to stay in Russia permanently, must be decided by a separate procedure, Kucherena said, without specifying if Snowden is seeking it, the AP reported.
Snowden espionage charges in the U.S. that carry a sentence of up to 30 years, but Russia has no extradition treaty with Washington, according to the AP.
Since receiving the temporary asylum, his whereabouts have not been made public, according to the AP. The case has been a significant contributor to the tensions between Russia and the U.S.
Snowden was stranded in a Moscow airport last year en route from Hong Kong to Cuba, shortly after he released extensive documentation about National Security Agency's surveillance programs, the AP reported.
"I don't think there's ever been any question that I'd like to go home," Snowden said in a television interview in May, according to the AP. "Now, whether amnesty or clemency ever becomes a possibility is not for me to say. That's a debate for the public and the government to decide. But, if I could go anywhere in the world, that place would be home."
