MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. Former US NSA staffer Edward Snowden has discarded the idea that he can win a Nobel Peace Prize after he was nominated for it along with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his informant and whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
"It will never happen, it will never happen," he said when asked about his opinion about potentially winning the prize.
According to Snowden, Assange is also barely interested who will become a new Nobel Prize laureate. "Someone like Julian Assange does not take the risks that he has taken for a chance to win some reward. And I think that doing good deeds is the only reward," he added.
In 2013, Snowden leaked information on the electronic surveillance methods used by US intelligence services, including illegally eavesdropping on foreign leaders’ conversations. Fleeing punitive consequences from US federal authorities, Snowden sent requests for asylum to several countries, including Russia. On August 1, 2014, he obtained a temporary Russian residence permit and later was granted an open-ended residency permit. Back in the United States, Snowden is facing two counts of violating the Espionage Act, and he risks up to ten years in prison on each count. In January 2021, Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner, nominated Snowden, Assange and Manning for the prize.