World Bulletin / News Desk

Mike Rogers, the chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, has claimed that US defector Edward Snowden may have been working with Russia in the process of obtaining classified data.

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation" program, Rogers said that he doubted Snowden acted alone, as some of the data he obtained was done by exercising skills "beyond his technical capabilities" and that he had also stolen some information that "had nothing to do with privacy".

Backing Rogers, Californian Democrat and Senator Dianne Feinstein also told the same program that she believed Snowden had Russian help, although she was unable to state exactly how and when.

Edward Snowden has been living in Russia since being granted temporary asylum last year when he fled to Moscow after leaking top secret files about the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance program to the media.

He has been leaking more and more information ever since, including details of how the US has been spying on allied leaders in Europe and India. The leaks have led President Barack Obama to announce the curbing of surveillance methods.