In a video translated and released by Russia Today, Edward Snowden via video link during a live broadcast asked Vladimiar Putin questions concerning Russia’s use of surveillance technology, the Russian president drawing a clear distinction between his country’s moderate surveillance program and America’s “mass scale, uncontrollable efforts.”

Via video link from an undisclosed location, Snowden asked Putin if his government intercepts, stores, or analyzes "in any way" communication among its millions of citizens. Putin replied that Russia’s strict laws prohibit the Kremlin from having a "mass system" of citizen surveillance:

Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law, so how special forces can use this kind of special equipment to intercept phone calls or follow someone online, and you have to get court permission to stalk a particular person. We don’t have a mass system of such interception and according with our law, it cannot exist.

Putin explained that while Russia does not have the technological capabilities of the U.S., Russian intelligence is still able to effectively monitor threatening activity. In his comments, Putin made sure to underscore the difference between the Kremlin's modest program and the “mass scale, uncontrollable efforts” of America:

Of course we do some efforts like that, but we do not have a mass scale, uncontrollable efforts like that. I hope we won’t do that and we don’t have much money as they have in the States and we don’t have the technical devices that they have in the States. Our special services, thank God, are strictly controlled by the society and by the law and regulated by the law.

Snowden’s surveillance questions were part of an annual live broadcast with Putin called “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin.” As Politico reports, it is not clear whether Snowden’s questions were asked live or prerecorded, or how he was able to contact the program. Russia Today states only that Snowden was connected via video link from an undisclosed location.