Edward Snowden has been in constant contact with Russian spies ever since he fled to Moscow three years ago after stealing a massive trove of US government secrets and publicly disclosing them through the media, a new bombshell report says.
Snowden, an ex-CIA employee and former National Security Agency contractor, “has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services,” according to the 33-page House Intelligence Committee report to be released Thursday morning.
But the material was heavily redacted, making it impossible “to assess” the extent to which Snowden had gotten cozy with the KGB, according to Yahoo News.
The shocking revelation comes at a tense time between the two superpowers over Russia’s alleged meddling in the recent US election.
It also throws into question whether Snowden was a brave whistleblower who exposed abuses by US intelligence or just an American traitor.
Complicating things even further, Snowden’s defenders are now making their final push to try to get him pardoned before President Obama leaves office next month.
In a recent interview with Yahoo global anchor Katie Couric, Snowden denied having any interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin or his intelligence officers.
He said he gave the “stiff arm” to the Russian authorities when they approached him in Moscow in 2013 after he escaped from the United States.
With Putin’s permission, Snowden has been living in Moscow in self-imposed exile.