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Snowden: Russia ‘wrong’ to limit human rights

by Jordain Carney - 09/05/15 12:06 PM ET

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden on Saturday criticized Russia for limiting online and human rights.

“It’s wrong in Russia, and it would be wrong anywhere,” Snowden said, according to The Express Tribune. Snowden, who was accepting a Norwegian award via a video conference from Russia, added that Moscow’s stance on human rights is “disappointing. It’s frustrating.”

{mosads}Saturday’s remarks weren’t the first time Snowden has publicly criticized his host country, and he said he would continue to question Russia’s policies.

“This drive that we see in the Russian government to control more and more the internet, to control more and more what people are seeing, even parts of personal lives, deciding what is the appropriate or inappropriate way for people to express their love for one another … [is] fundamentally wrong,” he added.

Snowden was granted asylum in Russia in 2013, after he leaked information on NSA surveillance programs and fled the United States.

He said Saturday that he “never intended to go to Russia,” but the U.S. government cancelled his passport when he was on the way to Latin America.

“I applied for asylum in 21 countries,” he said. “They were all silent. Russia was actually one of the last countries in that sequence that I applied for.”

Tags Edward Snowden Russia