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by ineedasername 1361 days ago
Snowden's lawyer is either not aware of the specifics of the conscription order or is choosing to represent things in accordance with Putin's statements even though his statements don't align with the actual order, which is much broader. Here's a link to the full text, [1] which does not exclude individuals without military service.

There have also been reports of people without military experience being taken [2]

That said, I very much doubt they'd draft Snowden, I don't see what purpose that would serve. Also I'm not sure I'd consider him "outspoken" on the issue, but he has expressed criticism of the Russian government over the years, including their invasion of the Ukraine. In his own words, "It was not my choice to be here, and this is what people forget. ... It was not my choice to live in Russia."

I very much doubt he considers Russia any better than the US with respect to their military & espionage programs, especially because I'd bet there's a firm (and low) upper limit on how much outspokenness the government there would tolerate from him. His value to Russia is his continuous presence on the world stage serving as a reminder about how the U.S. operates with respect to intelligence gathering. Otherwise, he's probably only 2-3 furious anti-Putin diatribes away from being the next underwear nerve-toxin assassination target.

[1] https://www.politico.eu/article/text-vladimir-putin-mobiliza...

[2] https://www.npr.org/2019/09/12/760121373/edward-snowden-tell...