Snowden says NSA 'in bed' with most Western states as Brazil also complains about surveillance by U.S. spy agencies By Reuters Reporter and Daily Mail Reporter Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden says America's National Security Agency is "in bed" with Germany and other Western states, while Brazil is demanding an explanation from the U.S. over reports that its citizens have been under surveillance for at least a decade. America's National Security Agency works closely with Germany and other Western states on a 'no questions asked'-basis, former NSA employee Snowden said in comments that undermine Chancellor Angela Merkel's indignant talk of "Cold War" tactics. "They are in bed with the Germans, just like with most other Western states," German magazine Der Spiegel quotes him as saying in an interview published on Sunday that was carried out before he fled to Hong Kong in May and divulged details of extensive secret U.S. surveillance. Outspoken 'hero': Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden says America's National Security Agency is 'in bed' with Germany and other Western states Other agencies don't ask us where we got the information from and we don't ask them. That way they can protect their top politicians from the backlash in case it emerges how massively people's privacy is abused worldwide," he said. Snowden's comments about cooperation with governments overseas, which he said were led by the NSA's Foreign Affairs Directorate, appear to contradict the German government's show of surprise at the scale of the U.S. electronic snooping. Germany has demanded explanations for Snowden's allegations of large-scale spying by the NSA, and by Britain via a programme codenamed 'Tempora', on their allies including Germany and other European Union states, as well as EU institutions and embassies. Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out during President Barack Obama's recent visit that Germany had avoided terrorist attacks thanks to information from allies. But she says there must be limits to the intrusion on privacy and wants this discussed next week in parallel with the start of EU-U.S. free trade talks. Close allies: U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, toast during a dinner hosted by Merkel in honour of the Obamas at Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin on June 19, 2013 Berlin has alluded repeatedly to "Cold War" tactics - Merkel used the term again on Saturday at a political rally - and has said spying on friends is unacceptable. Her spokesman has said a transatlantic trade deal requires a level of "mutual trust." Brazil is getting ready to demand an explanation from the United States over report its citizens' electronic communications have been under watch by U.S. spy agencies for at least ten years, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday. Patriota's remarks were in response to a report in the Globo daily newspaper on Sunday saying that the U.S. National Security Agency has been monitoring the telephone and e-mail activity of Brazilian companies and individuals as part of U.S. espionage activities. The report cited documents obtained from U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor. More accusations: Brazil's foreign minister Antonio Patriota, pictured, says the United States has been spying on Crazil's citizens' electronic communications for at least a decade Patriota also said his government plans to propose changes to international communications rules administered by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union to improve communications secrecy, the statement said. Brazil also plans to present proposals to the United Nations to protect the privacy of electronic communication. "The Brazilian government is gravely concerned by the news that electronic and telephone communications of Brazilian citizens are the objective of espionage efforts by U.S. intelligence agencies," a foreign ministry statement said. The Globo report did not say how much traffic was monitored by NSA computers and intelligence officials. But the article pointed out that in the Americas, Brazil was second only to the United States in the number of transmissions intercepted. Brazil was a priority nation for the NSA communications surveillance alongside China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, Globo said. In the 10-year period, the NSA captured 2.3 billion phone calls and messages in the United States and then used computers to analyze them for signs of suspicious activity, the paper said. In the United States, the NSA used legal but secret warrants to compel communications companies to turn over information about calls and emails for analysis. Some access to Brazilian communications was obtained through American companies that were partners with Brazilian telecommunications companies, the paper reported, without identifying the companies. Speaking out: Activists from the Internet Party of Ukraine perform during a rally supporting Snowden in front of U.S. embassy, in Kiev on June 27, 2013 The Globo article was written by Glenn Greenwald, Roberto Kaz and José Casado. Greenwald, an American who works for Britain's Guardian newspaper and lives in Rio de Janeiro, was the journalist who first revealed classified documents provided by Snowden, outlining the extent of U.S. communications monitoring activity at home and abroad. After providing the information to Greenwald, Snowden fled the United States for Hong Kong and was most recently seen in the transit area of the Moscow airport. Snowden's U.S. passport has been revoked. He has made asylum requests to several countries, including Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia. Three countries - Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua - have offered to give Snowden asylum. Germany's domestic intelligence chief has said he knew nothing of such widespread surveillance by the NSA. But German opposition parties - with an eye on September's federal election - insist that somebody in Merkel's office, where the German intelligence agencies are coordinated, must have known what was going on. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Der Spiegel report, which follows a report last week in French daily Le Monde saying France also had an extensive surveillance programme. Der Spiegel has reported that on an average day, the NSA monitored about 20 million German phone connections and 10 million internet data sets, rising to 60 million phone connections on busy days. Protest: A member of German Piraten Partei holds the portraits of U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning and Snowden during a protest in Berlin's Tiergarten district on June 19, 2013 Germans are particularly sensitive about eavesdropping because of the intrusive surveillance in the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) and during the Nazi era. Snowden, a U.S. citizen, fled in May a few weeks before the details he provided about the NSA were published and is believed to have been holed up in Moscow airport since June 23. Bolivia offered asylum on Saturday to Snowden, joining leftist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for divulging details of the secret U.S. spy programs. Der Spiegel said the interview was conducted while Snowden was living in Hawaii, via encrypted emails with U.S. documentary maker Laura Poitras and hacker Jacob Appelbaum. Snowden told them that America's closest allies sometimes went even further than the NSA in their zeal for gathering data. The Tempora programme of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency is known in the intelligence world as a "full take." "It sucks up all information, no matter where it comes from and which laws are broken," Snowden said. If you send a data packet and goes through Britain, we'll get it. If you download anything, and the server is in Britain, we'll get it. If the NSA is ordered to target an individual, it virtually take over that person's data "so the target's computer no longer belongs to him, it more or less belongs to the U.S. government." NSA headquarters: An undated aerial handout photo shows the National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland