Edward Snowden is being ‘ exploited ’ under a deal he made with the Russians to guarantee him asylum , a leading spy analyst has claimed . Mr Snowden may have been told not to speak out on Russian surveillance but continue attacking America in order to save himself from jail in the US , Andrei Soldatov said . He accused the former US spy of not being ‘ transparent ’ and said he was being ‘ secretive ’ about his arrangements with the Russian authorities . Edward Snowden is being ‘ exploited ’ under a deal he made with the Russians to guarantee him asylum , a leading spy analyst has claimed . After Mr Snowden , 31 , revealed himself in June 2013 as the civilian CIA worker who stole a vast tranche of classified documents , he fled to Hong Kong and then Russia where he was given asylum . The decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen as a snub to US President Barack Obama at a time when relations between the two countries are strained . But the details of the arrangement have never been made public , and Mr Snowden has never addressed them . Mr Soldatov , who runs a website which is an online watchdog of Mr Putin ’ s intelligence agencies , spoke out in an interview with the Daily Beast , a US news and culture website . Mr Soldatov is also an author , investigative journalist and analyst who has been working on the Russian security state for a decade . It was thought that Edward Snowden was living in a secret location in Russia after his 2013 leaks made him a wanted man by the US Government – but it seems he ’ s actually set up shop in the middle of the White House . At least , that ’ s where the whistleblower is according to Google Maps . A business called Edward ’ s Snow Den has appeared in the US President ’ s headquarters thanks to the clever work of internet pranksters . Nothing happens when the icon for it is clicked , but for a short while it was listed as a snowboard shop , open between 5am and 11pm , according to thenextweb.com . Several reviews appeared underneath the listing , including one which gave it a five star rating and described it as a ‘ great source of classified information ’ . Whistleblower Edward Snowden speaks to European officials via videoconference during a parliamentary hearing on improving the protection of whistleblowers , at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg . He said : ‘ I think there is some sort of a deal with the Russian authorities . ‘ It seems Snowden insisted that he ’ d never be used by Russian propaganda . ‘ He never made it onto ( Russian TV station ) RT or other state media outlets and of course they would be happy to have him . ‘ He ’ s clearly being exploited - after all , many repressive measures on the Internet in Russia were presented to Russians as a response to Snowden ’ s revelations. ’ Mr Snowden is still a wanted man in the US where , if he returns , he will face espionage charges that could see him jailed for life if convicted . Mr Soldatov said : ‘ It seems the idea is to stress that he ’ s just not in the US , he ’ s somewhere , but not in Russia . ‘ I don ’ t think it was his strategy from the beginning . After all , he questioned ( Vladimir ) Putin last April during Putin ’ s annual question-and-answer press conference about mass surveillance in Russia . ‘ So my impression is that it ’ s not his decision. ’ Mr Snowden has been branded a traitor in the US and the UK where terrorism experts have said that lives were being lost because he had hampered security service operations . He stole information which revealed how spying agencies including GCHQ and the NSA monitored citizens ’ private information , including call history and emails . Mr Snowden recently gave an interview to British comedian John Oliver for his weekly US TV show in which he admitted he had not read every document he leaked . In his toughest grilling to date , Mr Snowden said that he had ‘ evaluated ’ all the documents but squirmed and gave non-answers when pressed . He also acknowledged there had been a ‘ f***-up ’ when newspapers that were handed the classified material failed to redact sensitive details exposing operations against Al Qaeda .
Analyst claims Snowden under orders not to speak out against Russia . The analyst says the NSA is monitoring all communications of Russian officials and their families in order to prevent them from communicating with Snowden.