Edward Snowden speaks via video link as he takes part in a round table on the protection of whistleblowers at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, March 15, 2019.
PARIS - Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents detailing government surveillance programs, is calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him asylum.
Snowden, now living in Russia to avoid prosecution in the United States, stressed in an interview broadcast Monday on France's Inter radio that "protecting whistleblowers is not a hostile act" and that he feels entitled to get protected status in France.
Snowden unsuccessfully applied for asylum in France in 2013 under Macron's predecessor, Francois Hollande. He has also sought asylum in several other countries.
Snowden's memoir, telling his life story in detail for the first time, will be released Tuesday in about 20 countries, including France.
The French presidency did not comment.