BUENOS AIRES, September 12 (RIA Novosti) – Brazilian lawmakers said they were planning a visit to Moscow to meet Edward Snowden over the US National Security Agency’s spying on Brazil, media reports said Thursday.
The foreign relations and defense commission of Brazil’s lower house of parliament said in a statement Wednesday that the legislators would send a delegation to Russia to interview Snowden, a fugitive US intelligence leaker who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia. It is yet unclear when the trip might possibly take place, while Russian authorities haven’t commented whether they would allow such visit.
Reports based on documents leaked by Snowden indicated that Brazil was the NSA’s top Latin American target for surveillance.
Deputy Ivan Valente said Wednesday that Brazilian officials must speak with Snowden because the reported revelations had shown "the total vulnerability" of communications for the government and the country’s citizens, The Associated Press reported.
Reports by Globo TV, citing documents from Snowden, said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the state oil company Petrobras were among the NSA’s key targets for surveillance.
US national security adviser Susan Rice told Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo on Wednesday that “the United States is committed to working with Brazil to address its concerns,” the White House said in a statement.
