BRASILIA, Brazil, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Brazil will not grant former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's request for asylum, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday.
Snowden -- who is living in Russia under temporary asylum after releasing secret NSA documents -- offered in a letter published Tuesday in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo to collaborate with a Brazilian government investigation of an NSA surveillance program, in return for asylum in Brazil.
Rouseff said Wednesday the letter is not a formal application for asylum, nor was it addressed to the Brazilian government.
She added her administration would not respond to requests made through intermediaries of a person who "does not make clear" what he seeks.
