Google Russia CEO Says US Has No Direct Access to Servers

"Yes, we receive government requests to provide data, but this is strictly in line with the law. It is important to understand that these are requests that we respond to, and not access to servers,” Yulia Solovyova, the recently appointed head of Google Russia, said in an interview with Kommersant published Wednesday.

Her statement comes amid worldwide public concern about Internet companies sharing user data with US government agencies after former CIA technician Edward Snowden leaked details earlier this month of the Prism data collection program, which allegedly monitored phone and electronic correspondence of Americans, and which he said gave the US security services direct access to the servers of major Internet companies.

In a push for more transparency to maintain consumer trust in its protection of user privacy, Google, which has long published statistics on government requests for data through its Transparency Report service, has recently asked the US government for permission to disclose more detailed information.

"We have recently asked the US authorities for permission to also publish data on requests linked to national security,” Solovyova said.

Lawmaker Ruslan Gattarov, who chairs the commission on the development of information society in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Tuesday that Google had declined an invitation to the commission’s meeting on the Internet information-sharing scandal scheduled for Wednesday.

Gattarov earlier called for an international inquiry into the reports that companies including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter provide the US special services with direct access to their user data. He said the commission would hold a meeting that would be followed by a probe by Russia's state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor. The communications agency will also initiate a conference for all countries that have signed the international agreement on personal data protection, Gattarov said.

Russia is one of the largest Internet markets in Europe.