Expert: Putin's statement about the absence of mass surveillance of citizens in the Russian Federation is fair only in the parallel universe

The Russian special services expert Mark Galeotti in an interview with the authoritative American Internet publication The Daily Beast accused Vladimir Putin of lies. During yesterday’s “Direct Line”, the former CIA employee Edward Snowden asked him if Russia was engaged in interception, storage and analysis of information about people's negotiations and considers Putin to be fair and justified mass control. The president replied that such mass surveillance of the population as in the USA is impossible, because the special services are under strict control.

"Perhaps this statement is truthfully in some parallel universe, where Crimean citizens completely independently, without directing from Russia, spontaneously voted to join the Russian Federation after random mercenaries who were not related to Moscow seized local airports and administrative buildings. But in the world, what it is is only outrageous, as independent experts surveyed by our journal," the publication surveyed by our journal, " Inopressa .

“In my opinion, this is ridiculous,” said the American expert in Russian special services Mark Galeotti.

Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov remarked: "Putin never lies directly, he simply says half a truth, and his answer was half -truth." “About what is happening within the country, he gave the wrong answer. We have all the signs of mass surveillance. In my opinion, Russian surveillance is much more invasive than the one that you have in the USA,” added Soldatov.

Galeotti and soldiers were explained: Russian laws really contain prohibitions on the mass collection of information in the order of surveillance.

“But the FSB has much more power for wiretapping Russian and foreign citizens than the FBI or NSA,” explains the author of the article by Eli Lake. In Russia, unlike the United States, there is neither a special court, nor even a parliamentary committee that controls the work of the FSB.

Soldatov noticed that in the United States, interception is carried out by the "Internet provider", and in Russia - "directly the FSB." “They have remote access to all Internet providers and all telecommunications companies, they are not even required to ask for permission to view any of these data,” the expert explained. “While the NSA itself collected all the data on the search for the search, the FSB can really listen to the content of the phone calls without the order of the court. No one will ask for this warrant, since the Internet provider does not have admission to secret information and,,,,,, of the Therefore, the warrant cannot see. "

According to the publication, during the Olympics in Sochi, the tracking of correspondence and communications in Russia became even more invasive. Galeotti says that it was a "test", from providers "demanded 24 hours to store all telephone conversations, SMS messages, everything else."

Putin monitors not only Russian citizens, continues the publication. It is widely believed that Russian intelligence is behind the recordings of telephone conversations of Western and Ukrainian politicians posted on the Internet.

It seemed to some that Snowden was involved in the propaganda performance. According to Galeotti, there are two different Snowden - the former reverend who had good intentions, and the current Snowden, who, "roughly speaking, was bought and paid by the Russian giblets," the publication reports.

However, the American lawyer Snowden Jesselin Redek states that there is nothing particularly strange or sensational on Snowden's issue.

Now Snowden depends on the mercy of the Russian authorities: in the summer he will have to extend the temporary shelter, the author of the article notes. Redeck claims: the United States forced Snowden to get stuck in Russia, having canceled his passport, "it is not controlled by Russia and is definitely not a spy."

Soldatov noted that Snowuden’s question can lift the actual ban in Russia on public debates about surveillance. “This is very important for Russia,” he emphasized.