Snowden’s passport was cancelled after he arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong, which became a legal obstacle, making him unable to leave Russia.
"US diplomats came to me and said they were ready to recover his passport, but only in one direction – Russia-the United States… Yes, they offered this deal. I said that it was nonsense, you either recover his passport [without limitations], or you don’t do it at all," Kucherena told the Rossiya-1 channel.
Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden broke into the international limelight in 2013, following the disclosure of classified documents about long-term US intelligence data collection in Europe and many other targets around the world.
In August 2013, Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia, one year later, he received a three-year residency permit in the country.
He could face up to 30 years in prison for espionage and theft of government property in the United States.
