Russia would not hand over fugitive U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden to his home country, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

"We have never surrendered anyone and we will never do so in the future," he said.

Peskov also said Russian President Vladimir Putin had not discussed the issue with the U.S. side, leaving it to the Russian Federal Security Service and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to resolve.

"Snowden hasn't asked for anything where the head of state needs to intervene," Peskov told reporters.

Meanwhile, he said the issue would not harm Russia-U.S. relations.

"President (Putin) has demonstrated strong determination to prevent this," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

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.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul said Washington had asked Russia not to "extradite" Snowden but to "hand him over" to U.S. authorities.

Snowden has been trapped in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since June 23. Endi