LONDON, November 21. /ITAR-TASS/. US National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying on British citizens with the UK government’s permission, The Guardian’s online version reported Wednesday evening.

The files the former NSA employee Edward Snowden had passed to the British press show the two countries struck a secret deal in 2007 that allowed NSA to access phones, Internet and e-mail records of all UK citizens, even those not suspected of any wrongdoing.

The UK along with Canada, US, New Zealand and Australia comprise the so-called Five Eyes group. The countries have an agreement to exchange intelligence data but until now they were believed to protect their own citizens from the partners’ espionage. The British government has not yet given any comments on the reports.