TIME

Denied clemency, Snowden remains trapped in Putin’s game

Snowden can still appear outside Russia—as at this Amsterdam film festival—but only by video link

RUSSIA WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE Edward Snowden’s final destination. When he decided in 2013 to leave his comfortable job in Hawaii as a U.S. intelligence contractor and expose his government’s most invasive spying programs, the whistle-blower knew he was likely to live in exile for a while. He was hoping for asylum somewhere in Latin America or maybe Western Europe. But he wound up marooned inside a rival superpower, playing a bit part

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