MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – The Brazilian government has expressed doubts about the possibility of granting political asylum to US fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden in exchange for his help in the investigation of US spying on the Brazilian soil.
Brazil’s respected Folha de S.Paulo newspaper on Wednesday quoted an aide to President Dilma Rousseff as saying that Brazil “has no interest in performing this kind of interference in the sovereignty of other countries” and “it will not do to them what they did to us.”
In an open letter to the Brazilian people, published by Folha de S.Paulo on Tuesday, Snowden offered to assist with investigations into the actions of the US National Security Agency (NSA) in Brazil, but said he needed permanent political asylum in the country to do so.
The Brazilian government has already announced that Snowden’s open letter does not comprise a formal request for political asylum and therefore cannot even be considered.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry earlier emphasized that Brazil had already condemned NSA actions as “unacceptable,” and had joined Germany in negotiating a resolution at the United Nations against US spying around the globe.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, even some opposition lawmakers cautioned against entering a “tit-for-tat battle” with the United States by granting political asylum to Snowden.
“I think there is nothing that dignifies this man enough for Brazil to get involved with this issue at this time. This will bring more issues to Brazil in an international perspective than any benefit to put a stop to these espionage actions,” the newspaper quoted Ronaldo Caiado, the leader of the DEM Party in Brazil’s House of Representatives, as saying.
Snowden is currently living at an undisclosed location in Russia, which has granted him temporary asylum until August 2014 despite extradition demands from the United States, where he faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.
Meanwhile, a US federal judge on Monday ruled that the US National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records likely violates the US Constitution, but allowed the surveillance program to proceed pending an expected appeal by the government.
The US government has insisted that the NSA’s classified surveillance programs disclosed by Snowden play a critical role in combatting terrorism.
