Putin ‘thinking of handing CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden to US as a gift to Donald Trump’

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin is thinking of handing spy whistleblower Edward Snowden over to the US as a gift to President Trump, it has been reported.

Snowden, 33, disclosed mass surveillance programs used by the US intelligence services in 2013 and was granted asylum in Russia after fleeing America.

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Now says US intelligence sources has evidence that Russia is considering turning Snowden over to Donald Trump.

But the infamous whistleblower, who fled to Russia after leaking top secret CIA documents in 2013, blasted the report on Twitter.

He said: "Finally: irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they're next."

In an interview with Yahoo News in December, Snowden made a similar point when asked about his feelings on extradition to the US.

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He said: "I’m actually kind of encouraged… It wasn’t so many years ago that people were saying, 'This guy’s a Russian spy'.

"But countries don't give up their spies."

The new President has called Snowden a "traitor" who deserves to be executed.

In July Trump said: "I think he's a total traitor and I would deal with him harshly.

"And if I were president, Putin would give him over."

In January former CIA director Michael Morell said that Snowden would be an ideal inauguration gift from Putin to Trump.

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He said: "Noon on January 20th provides an excellent opportunity for Russian President Vladimir Putin to give President-Elect Donald Trump the perfect inauguration gift – Edward Snowden.

"I'm well aware that Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the US, but I am confident that President Putin is creative enough to find a way within his own legal system to deport Snowden."

But Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, blasted the proposal.

Zakharova wrote: "The essence of what the [former] CIA [chief] is proposing, is the ideology of betrayal.

"It is clear that, for the CIA-man's firm, it is normal to present people as gifts and give up those who seek protection."

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