ANKARA

US whistleblower Edward Snowden and his wife Lindsay Mills are applying for Russian citizenship, Snowden said on Monday.

The pair applied for citizenship in order to not be separated from their son, who is expected to be born at the end of this year.

“After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our son. That's why, in this era of pandemics and closed borders, we're applying for dual US-Russian citizenship,” Snowden said on Twitter.

“Lindsay and I will remain Americans, raising our son with all the values of the America we love – including the freedom to speak his mind. And I look forward to the day I can return to the States, so the whole family can be reunited,” he added.

Snowden’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena announced the pregnancy on Thursday, saying the child will be granted Russian citizenship by birthright.

Earlier, Kucherena said that Snowden was granted a termless residence permit in Russia on Oct. 22.

Former US National Security Agency contractor Snowden, who leaked thousands of documents detailing a long-term surveillance program by the American government, was given asylum in Russia in 2013.

In 2014, Snowden's long-term girlfriend Mills joined him in Russia, and in 2017 they got married./aa