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Snowden Rips Critics of Putin Call

Saying he stood up to Russia.

Edward Snowden says he was just asking questions of Vladimir Putin on state-run television Thursday, not covering for the man who essentially granted him asylum. Writing in The Guardian, Snowden said "I was surprised that people who witnessed me risk my life to expose the surveillance practices of my own country could not believe that I might also criticize the surveillance policies of Russia, a country to which I have sworn no allegiance, without ulterior motive." Snowden said Putin denied and dodged his question about whether Russia engages in mass surveillance, but that his question and Putin's non-answer lifted a de facto ban on the subject in Russia.