Snowden asks Putin if Russia spies on citizens

MOSCOW — Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who was granted asylum in Russia, appeared at President Vladimir Putin’s annual televised call-in show Thursday to ask whether the country conducts mass surveillance like the United States.

Snowden’s revelations about U. S. spying practices set off a national debate about the trade-offs between security and privacy.

Speaking to Putin via video link from an undisclosed location, Snowden asked: “Does Russia intercept, store or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals?”

Putin, a former KGB officer, responded with a smile.

“Dear Mr. Snowden, you are a former agent, and I used to work in in- telligence,” he said. “So we will talk in a professional language.

“First of all, the use of special means by special services is strictly regulated by the law here,” Putin said. “And this regulation includes the need to get a court permission to (conduct surveillance on) a specific individual. And this is why it doesn’t have a massive, unselective character here and cannot have in accordance with the law.

“Of course, we proceed from the fact that modern means of communication are used by criminal elements, including terrorists, in their criminal activities,” Putin continued. “And special services, of course, must react accordingly. And of course, we are doing it.”

But, he added, “We don’t allow ourselves to do it on a massive and uncontrolled scale, and I hope very much we will never allow that.