Russia’s Foreign Minister has compared the way NSA obtains permission for its surveillance with the way Soviet people received sentences in Stalin-era courts.

Sergey Lavrov said the judicial entities which gave permission for NSA surveillance reminded him of “troikas,” or extrajudicial bodies that existed in the Soviet Union during the Great Purge of 1937-38. They consisted of only three people who passed sentences very quickly, based on very scanty evidence.

„Without any control, they just dropped their signatures on inquiries the NSA representatives brought them,” Lavrov said, while speaking Wednesday at Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, Interfax reported.