Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, sought asylum in
Russia in June 2013 after leaking volumes of information on American
intelligence and surveillance operations to the media.
On Tuesday, Zakharova announced an extension of a "couple of years" in a
Facebook post that criticized former CIA acting director Michael Morell for
an opinion piece he wrote suggesting that Russian President
Vladimir Putin should consider returning Snowden to the United States as
"the perfect inauguration gift" to President-elect Donald Trump.
Snowden settled in Moscow after initially traveling to Hong Kong following
his 2013 public disclosure of classified information. The Russian government
granted him asylum soon after.
In August 2014, Snowden received a three-year extension to his leave to
remain in Russia. That extension was due to expire this year.
In the final weeks of the Obama administration, more than a million
supporters have
petitioned the White House to pardon Snowden.
However, the White House said Tuesday that Snowden had not submitted
official documents requesting clemency. He is accused of espionage and
theft of government property.
Also Tuesday, Snowden thanked President Barack Obama in a tweet for his
decision to
commute the sentence of former Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was
convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and
videos to WikiLeaks.