Russia not to hand over Snowden to U.S.: Kremlin

MOSCOW, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Russia will not extradite fugitive U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden to his home country, Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

"President Vladimir Putin has not participated in the discussion of the issue with U.S. colleagues," Peskov told reporters, adding that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was in talks with its U.S. counterpart FBI over Snowden's fate.

Peskov added that Russia would not hand Snowden over to the United States.

On Thursday, the Russian Justice Ministry said it had received a letter from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder explaining some aspects of the U.S. position on the status of Snowden, but it had not contained an extradition request from Washington.