MOSCOW, Dec 26 — US whistleblower Edward Snowden’s wife has given birth to a son, photographs posted on her social media page today showed.

"Happy Holidays from our newly expanded family,” Lindsay Mills wrote, sharing photographs on Instagram of the couple holding the newborn.

Snowden, 37, who fled the United States after leaking secret National Security Agency files in 2013 and was given asylum in Russia, said last month that he would be seeking Russian citizenship together with his wife for the sake of their future family.

The couple said they feared being separated from their son, in an era of pandemics and closed borders, if they did not become dual U.S.-Russian citizens.

Russia has already granted Snowden permanent residency rights, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said earlier this year, a vital step towards Russian citizenship.

US authorities have for years wanted Snowden returned to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.

"As we expected, there is a new addition to his family. Edward and Lindsay have had a son. The mother and baby are in excellent health,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, citing Kucherena. — Reuters