Snowden was wrong to leak NSA documents, Putin says

Former U.S. National Security Agency sub-contractor Edward Snowed was wrong to leak classified information to the media, but should not be considered a traitor, according to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Putin made his comments during an interview with U.S. film director Oliver Stone, excerpts of which were released ahead of its broadcast later this month.

In June 2013, after fleeing the U.S. and travelling to Hong Kong, Snowden passed on thousands of classified documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill who in turn published the documents in The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers.  

Snowden, 33, subsequently sought asylum in Russia. His lawyer said in January Snowden had the right to remain in Russia until 2020 and to apply for Russian citizenship next year.

"Snowden is not a traitor," said Putin. "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."

Putin insisted however that Snowden should not have leaked the documents and should have simply resigned. The Russian strongman said he believed that Snowden had a right to act the way he did since U.S. surveillance had become “too intrusive”.

He praised Russian intelligence services for operating with the law.