普京讚揚斯諾登“高尚”

Russian President Vladimir Putin says former U.S. national security contractor Edward Snowden is "noble," but that neither he nor Russian security agencies have had any contact with him. Snowden disclosed classified U.S. documents to media outlets, and was later granted asylum in Russia.

Putin made the comment during a wide-ranging annual question-and-answer session with reporters in Moscow Thursday that also covered missile deployment, U.S. eavesdropping on its own citizens, and Russian aid to Ukraine.

He said Moscow has not made a decision on deploying missiles in Kaliningrad, a prospect that has caused concern in neighboring Poland and Lithuania as well as Washington.

Regarding the U.S. National Security Agency's admission that it collected phone records from U.S. citizens, Mr. Putin said such surveillance is necessary to fight terrorism, although he cautioned that government needs to "limit the appetite" of national security agencies to prevent them from becoming too powerful.俄羅斯總統普京說，前美國國家安全局合同工愛德華·斯諾登是“高尚”的，但他和俄羅斯安全部門都沒有跟斯諾登聯繫過。斯諾登將美國機密文件泄露給媒體後在俄羅斯獲得庇護。

普京是星期四在莫斯科舉行的涉及廣泛問題的年度記者會上說這番話的。他還談到俄羅斯部署導彈，美國收集本國公民電話信息，以及俄羅斯給烏克蘭的援助等問題。普京回答了記者提出的問題。

普京說，俄羅斯還沒有決定是否在加里寧格勒部署導彈。這種可能性讓美國以及俄羅斯的鄰國波蘭和立陶宛感到關切。

普京在談到美國國家安全局承認收集本國公民電話信息時說，這種監視對於打擊恐怖主義是必要的。不過他提醒說，政府需要限制國家安全部門的“胃口”，防止他們擁有過大的權力。