Edward Snowden reportedly said he gave no info to Russians

TheGuardian journalist who isat the centre of a series of revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's sweeping surveillance programs says his source, Edward Snowden, told him he never gave any information to the Russian or Chinese governments.

• Read about why the U.S. has failed to nab Edward Snowden

Glenn Greenwald says in an article publishedWednesdayon the website of the British daily newspaperthat he spoke to Snowden over the weekend and on Tuesday,and that the leaker "vehemently denied" rumours that his data had been acquired by Moscow or Beijing.

Greenwald quotes him as saying, "'I never gave any information to either government, and they never took anything from my laptops.'"

Critics of Snowden's leaks have often wondered at his relationship with Chinese or Russian authorities.

Greenwald did not say whereSnowden is or where he is expected to go.

On Tuesday,theWikiLeaks secret-spilling site said Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela, trying to put to rest growing confusion over whether he had taken up the country's offer.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to Snowden and says his country received a request from the former NSA systems analyst.

But Snowden, who is believed to be in a Moscow airport's transit zone, has applied for asylum in other countries as well, and it is not clear how easy it would be for him to travel to the Latin American country.

Brazil says U.S. spying won't hurt relations

In related news Wednesday,thehead of Brazil's joint congressional committee on intelligence said allegations that the United States has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations in Latin America's biggest country will not affect Brazil-U.S. relations.

Congressman Nelson Pellegrinotold foreign correspondents in Brasilia that despite Brazil's strong repudiation of the U.S. information-gathering activities in Brazil, "the good relations we have with the United States will not be interrupted."

Late last week, the O Globo newspaper reported that information released by Snowden showed Brazil is the top target in Latin America for the NSA's massive intelligence-gathering effort aimed at monitoring communications around the world.

The Brazilian government is investigating the disclosures and Congress has asked U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon for explanations.