Multiple sources report that Edward Snowden was granted Russian citizenship
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63036991.
I could not believe it so I went for the source
http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202209260013?index=3&rangeSize=1
Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked extensive US intelligence surveillance operations, has been granted Russian citizenship.
The decree was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Mr Snowden, 39, has been living in exile in Russia since exposing the National Security Agency (NSA) programme affecting millions of Americans in 2013.
Mr Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the US, has made no public comments.
He is now eligible for the war draft. Actually, IT workers are not, but they have to be employed by qualified businesses.
The LA Times disagrees with those who say he can be drafted, and tells us:
Snowden, however, has never served in the Russian armed forces, so he is not eligible to be mobilized, his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told the Interfax news agency. Having previous combat or military service experience has been considered the main criteria in the call-up.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 29 2022, @03:58PM (1 child)
Can he grandstand any more to distract from the less attractive issues happening on his watch?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 29 2022, @07:11PM
Putin trolling the interwebs is the only modern weapon he has left!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Thursday September 29 2022, @04:01PM (14 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeRandomGeek on Thursday September 29 2022, @04:35PM (6 children)
Unfortunately for Snowden, the bureaucrats responsible for military mobilization are ignoring all the limits on mobilization that Putin has declared publicly in favor of what Putin has told them privately: "Make your damn quotas." They're rounding up anyone they can get hold of and sending them to the front after two days of training.
https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-26 [understandingwar.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @04:42PM (5 children)
That would be hilarious for Snowden to mobilize against the US. He knows all the passwords, probably even the nuke codes OMG!
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Thursday September 29 2022, @06:34PM (3 children)
Why would you think that nuclear weapon launch codes are not changed frequently from a random source? If Snowden ever had knowledge of "nuclear codes", that knowledge would be obsolete now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @07:40PM
Nuclear codes, right on down to the lock on his front door. Everything has changed since he left.
(Score: 4, Funny) by istartedi on Friday September 30 2022, @05:48AM
Oh no! They just launched. I could hear the WHOOOOSH!
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @02:53PM
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/launch-code-for-us-nukes-was-00000000-for-20-years/ [arstechnica.com]
Yeah they're probably no longer all zeroes but why would you even believe they would be changed frequently from a random source?
(Score: 2) by number11 on Friday September 30 2022, @05:14AM
Of course he knows the nuke codes. Everybody who needs to know, knows "00000000". Though post-Snowden, for better security they might have been changed to "11111111".
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday September 29 2022, @08:31PM
This is technically not correct. All the categories for the draft are not binding, but recommended. The final decision is in the hands of the local draft office.
Separately, a law is pending which would give a priority for fresh - less that 10 years - citizens. This created an issue with Uzbekistan. Millions of it's citizens got a Russian one, but the country is promising a jail for whoever serves in Russian military. All the border crossings are overwhelmed with them.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 29 2022, @08:42PM (3 children)
Tagesschau reported yesterday that the Russian army has set up impressment offices at border checkpoints to "recruit" all those military age males waiting in line to flee the country. Poor bastards. It might be time to pull a "Sound of Music" and take advantage of those thousands and thousands of miles of border Russia has with its neighbors.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30 2022, @06:06AM (2 children)
Easier said than done. In real life, the Von Trapps took public transit the whole way [archive.org]. They didn't even go to Switzerland. They took a train to Italy, and from there booked passage to the USA.
Aside from that, Russians are going to countries along the western borders for reasons. Gas is probably just as expensive in Russia now as it is every place else. It's a long drive to eastern borders and you end up in the -stans or China which would probably present a lot of problems.
I'm not saying it couldn't make sense for *somebody* to bushwhack it across a border. It's just that it seems unlikely very many would choose that route. Perhaps a hand full of hearty outdoorsmen who already live in a border area might try it if it were already part of their ordinary stomping grounds and they knew some easy passages.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 30 2022, @03:44PM (1 child)
I saw a different report on Deutsche Welle that some Russians were paying locals at the crossings to Georgia to do just that--show them the footpaths to get through the mountains. It took them 24 hours to do, but others trying to cross through the official checkpoints had been waiting for days.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Saturday October 01 2022, @08:48AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by JustNiz on Friday September 30 2022, @05:03PM (1 child)
On paper maybe, but they are already taking many people that have no military experience.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday October 01 2022, @08:50AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves