Edward Snowden Tells EU Parliament He Wants Asylum In Europe

In written testimony before the European Parliament, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said he is seeking asylum in the European Union but he has not received "a positive response to the requests I sent to various EU member states."

Snowden continues: "Parliamentarians in the national governments have told me that the US, and I quote, 'will not allow' EU partners to offer political asylum to me, which is why the previous resolution on asylum ran into such mysterious opposition. I would welcome any offer of safe passage or permanent asylum, but I recognize that would require an act of extraordinary political courage."

Snowden sent the parliament a 12-page document in which he answers the questions of some MPs.

Snowden, again repeated, that he had "no relationship" with China and Russia.

When he was asked if he was approached by the Russian secret service, he said, "Of course." He went on:

"Even the secret service of Andorra would have approached me, if they had had the chance: that's their job. "But I didn't take any documents with me from Hong Kong, and while I'm sure they were disappointed, it doesn't take long for an intelligence service to realize when they're out of luck. I was also accompanied at all times by an utterly fearless journalist with one of the biggest megaphones in the world, which is the equivalent of Kryptonite for spies. As a consequence, we spent the next 40 days trapped in an airport instead of sleeping on piles of money while waiting for the next parade. But we walked out with heads held high. "I would also add, for the record, that the United States government has repeatedly acknowledged that there is no evidence at all of any relationship between myself and the Russian intelligence service."

Below we've embedded the full document.