Putin Says Snowden Was Wrong to Leak Secrets, but Is No Traitor

Putin said Snowden should have resigned from his job rather than leak secrets if he didn’t like what he was doing.

Vladimir Putin (left) and Edward Snowden (right). (Photo: Reuters/AP screengrab)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he believes former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden was wrong to leak US spy secrets, but is no traitor.

Snowden, 33, was given asylum in Russia in 2013, after leaking classified information about US spy operations. His lawyer said in January that Snowden had the right to remain in Russia until 2020, and to apply for Russian citizenship next year.

Putin, a former KGB officer and ex-head of Russia's FSB security service, made his comments about Snowden in an interview with US film director Oliver Stone, excerpts of which were released ahead of its broadcast by US TV network Showtime from 12 June.

Snowden is not a traitor. He did not betray the interests of his country, nor did he transfer any information to any other country that would damage his own people.

Vladimir Putin

However, the Russian leader said Snowden should have resigned from his job in the same way he once resigned from the KGB, rather than leak secrets if he didn't like what he was doing.

“He shouldn't have done it (leaked secrets). My view is that what he did was wrong,” Putin told Stone.

Snowden had the right to act in the way he did however, said Putin, who said he agreed that the US surveillance had become too intrusive, while praising his own country’s intelligence services for operating within the law.

Putin also criticised the US eavesdropping on its own allies like Germany, saying such activity inevitably backfired.

Trying to spy on your allies, if you really consider them allies and not vassals, is just indecent. It undermines trust, and in the end, damages your own national security.

Vladimir Putin

Snowden has used social media to criticise the Russian authorities over a law obliging communications companies to store phone calls and Internet activity for six months. The Russian authorities have not commented on those remarks.

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