What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Russia is considering handing notorious fugitive Edward Snowden over to President Trump as a 'gift', it has been claimed.

Snowden, a former CIA worker, fled the US in 2013 after leaking thousands of classified documents about the government's surveillance techniques.

He remains in Russia where he received asylum.

But NBC News says US intelligence sources have recently gathered evidence that Russia is considering turning Snowden over to Donald Trump.

(Image: Reuters) (Image: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

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

Last 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."

(Image: TASS)

According to NBC, handing over Snowden is one of a number of tactics being considered by Russia to "curry favour" with Trump.

Ben Wizner, one of Trump's legal supporters in the US, said he had heard of no such rumours.

And Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talk about returning Snowden is "nonsense."

Snowden faces charges back on US soil that carry a minimum of 30 years in jail.

The reports come after Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of British-raised former soldier Chelsea Manning in one of his final acts as President.

Manning was imprisoned for the biggest military classified leak in American history.

Originally known as Bradley Manning before transitioning from a man to a woman, she will now be freed on May 17 after Obama cut her 35-year sentence.

The 35-year-old was convicted by a court martial in July 2013 for breaking America’s espionage act.