MOSCOW: Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor who leaked details of U.S. intelligence eavesdropping, made a surprise appearance on a TV phone-in hosted by Vladimir Putin on Thursday, asking the Russian president if his country also tapped the communications of millions.
The exchange was the first known direct contact between Putin and Snowden since Russia gave the American refuge last summer after he disclosed widespread monitoring of telephone and internet data by the United States and fled the country.
Snowden was not in the studio with Putin, who angered U.S. President Barack Obama by refusing to send the American home to face espionage charges. He submitted his question in a video clip that a lawyer said had been pre-recorded.
Snowden, 30, wearing a jacket and open-collar shirt and speaking before a dark background, asked Putin: “Does Russia intercept, store or analyze, in any way, the communications of millions of individuals?”
“And do you believe that simply increasing the effectiveness of intelligence or law enforcement investigations can justify placing societies, rather than subjects, under surveillance?” he asked.
He was speaking in English, and Putin had to ask the anchor for help with a translation of the question.
Putin, a spy during a 16-year career with the Soviet KGB, raised a laugh among the studio audience when he said: “You are an ex-agent. I used to have ties to intelligence. So we will speak to each other in the language of professionals.”
Turning to Snowden’s question, Putin said Russia regulates communications as part of criminal investigations, but “on a massive scale, on an uncontrolled scale we certainly do not allow this and I hope we will never allow it.”
He said the Russian authorities need consent from a court to conduct such surveillance on a specific individual “and for this reason there is no (surveillance) of a mass character here and cannot be in accordance with the law”.
The televised exchange allowed Putin to portray Russia as less intrusive in the lives of its citizens than the United States, which he frequently accuses of preaching abroad about rights and freedoms it violates at home.
“We have neither the technical means nor the money at the United States has,” Putin added. “But the main thing is that our intelligence services are under the strict control of the state and society.”
Photo and Report: Reuters
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