It was spy vs. spy as NSA leaker Edward Snowden questioned Russian President and ex-KGB big Vladimir Putin about Moscow’s use of mass surveillance on its citizens.
“I’ve seen little public discussion of Russia’s own involvement in the policies of mass surveillance, so I’d like to ask you: Does Russia intercept, store or analyze, in any way, the communications of millions of individuals?” Snowden asked the Russian strongman, speaking via a video link during a televised conversation Thursday.
Putin said Russia did not carry out mass surveillance on its population, and that its intelligence operations were strictly regulated by court orders, NBC reported.
“Mr. Snowden, you are a former agent, a spy, I used to work for the intelligence service, we are going to talk one professional language,” Putin said, according to the state-run broadcaster Russia Today.
“Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law so … you have to get a court permission to stalk that particular person.
“We don’t have as much money as they have in the States and we don’t have these technical devices that they have in the States. Our special services, thank God, are strictly controlled by society and the law and regulated by the law,” Putin said.
“Of course, we know that terrorists and criminals use technology, so we have to use means to respond to these, but we don’t have uncontrollable efforts like [in America].”
Snowden has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act after leaking thousands of classified documents last year.
He now lives in Russia, where he was granted a year’s asylum after making his way there from Hong Kong following release of the files.