Edward Snowden granted Russian citizenship

Former U.S. safety contractor Edward Snowden, a fugitive of yank authorities who has been dwelling in Russia since 2013, was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin on Monday at a time of extreme rigidity between the nations in consequence of battle in Ukraine.

Putin signed a decree Monday conferring citizenship to seventy five overseas nationals, collectively with Snowden, who’s wished inside the U.S. after leaking categorized paperwork detailing authorities surveillance purposes. He acquired everlasting Russian residency in 2020.

Snowden, 39, mentioned on the time that he would retain his American citizenship and hoped inside the prime to return to the U.S., the place he was charged in 2013 with violating the Espionage Act. He has denied sharing knowledge with Russian intelligence brokers.

regardless of his new citizenship, Snowden will not be eligible to get mobilized into the Russian navy as a outcome of he hasn’t served earlier than, his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, instructed the Interfax information agency.

latest battlefield losses prompted Putin to name up 300,000 civilians final week whereas making barely veiled threats of using his nuclear arsenal. The U.S. authorities responded by saying such a transfer would have “catastrophic penalties” for Russia.

utterly different developments:

►Voting wraps up Tuesday in 4 Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine the place the Kremlin has authored referendums to permit annexation of the land. “The Russians are seeing the residents’ fear and reluctance to vote, so as that they’re compelled to take people in,” mentioned Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of the Russia-held metropolis of Melitopol. Ukraine, the U.S. and loads of utterly different nations have dismissed the referendums as “shams.”

►better than $12 billion in Ukraine-associated assist will most possible be included inside the stopgap spending invoice which will fund the federal authorities by means of mid-December, the associated Press reported.

►Japan’s authorities on Monday banned the export of supplies which would possibly be used for chemical weapons to 21 Russian organizations, collectively with science laboratories, and it expressed concern about Putin’s latest nuclear threats.

►A ship carrying 1000’s of tons of corn and vegetable oil has arrived in northern Lebanon from Ukraine, the foremost of its sort since Russia’s invasion started seven months in the past.

SIX MONTHS INTO THE battle:all of the world is shedding. A take a look at the place we go from right here.

Russia’s mobilization will most possible be inefficient and pricey, research says

Russia’s “partial” navy mobilization will generate further forces however inefficiently and with extreme home social and political prices, a U.S. assume tank mentioned Monday in an evaluation of the battle.

President Vladimir Putin introduced the problem final week amid a Ukraine counteroffensive that has pushed his forces off 1000’s of miles of land it had seized earlier inside the 7-month-outdated battle. His protection ministry says the mobilization will add about 300,000 troopers to the Russian navy.

‘CATASTROPHIC penalties FOR RUSSIA’:If Putin makes use of nukes, the outcomes will most possible be dire, prime US official says

The evaluation from the Institute for the research of battle says forces generated by the partial mobilization are unlikely to “add considerably to the Russian navy’s web fight power in 2022.” Putin should repair “primary flaws” inside the Russian navy personnel and devices purposes if mobilization is to have any vital affect even inside the future, the evaluation gives.