US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden says he did not bring any secret documents with him to Russia when he fled there, ensuring Moscow had no access to the files.
In an interview with The New York Times published yesterday, Snowden said he gave all the classified papers he had obtained to reporters he met in Hong Kong before flying to Moscow, where he later secured asylum.
The former National Security Agency contractor did not take the documents with him “because it wouldn’t serve the public interest,” Snowden told the Times. “What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onwardIJ”
Snowden also insisted he was able to protect the documents from China’s spy services because he was familiar with that country’s intelligence capabilities through his work as an NSA contractor.
In his job, he had targeted Chinese operations and taught a course on Chinese cyber-counterintelligence.
“There’s a zero per cent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,” he said.
The interview took place last week over several days through encrypted online communications.
US officials and critics of Snowden have expressed concern that the documents in his possession could have fallen into the hands of Russian, Chinese or other potentially hostile foreign intelligence agencies.