Edward Snowden: I wasn't trying to look like a Putin patsy

Getty Images

Edward Snowden: I wasn't trying to look like a Putin patsy
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Last week, NSA leaker Edward Snowden made a surprise appearance on a live Q&A with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ask about Moscow's surveillance practices. And given that he was greeted like a longtime pal — Putin warmly noted Snowden was, like himself, "a former agent, a spy" — the staged event seemed like an overt bit of propaganda.

Not so, says Snowden. Or at least, that's what those close to him told The Daily Beast's Noah Shachtman.

"He basically viewed the question as his first foray into criticizing Russia," Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, told Shachtman. "He was genuinely surprised that in reasonable corridors it was seen as the opposite."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

To say it was "seen as the opposite" is a bit of an understatement. Still, perhaps Snowden should have seen that sort of response coming. Would Putin really let himself be caught off guard by pointed questioning from an American expat during his own choreographed interview?

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.