RIO DE JANEIRO — Russia's foreign minister says his nation hasn't received an asylum request from the American who has identified himself as the person who leaked details of a secret National Security Agency surveillance program.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Brazil. He said Tuesday that if a request arrives from Edward Snowden, "we will examine that request."
Lavrov says he won't speculate on the likelihood of any such request — nor what action Russia would take if it were received.
Snowden fled to Hong Kong after leaking word of a tracking program that collects the telephone records of millions of Americans and taps into computers of many Internet services to retrieve information about foreigners living outside the U.S.
Lavrov is in Brazil to deepen diplomatic and trade ties.
