The fallout from a leaked State Department call continued on Friday, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling the call’s profanity aimed at the European Union “absolutely unacceptable.”
In the call between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, Nuland can be heard saying “f–k the EU,” as she vents her frustration about a perceived lack of EU involvement in the Ukraine crisis. The White House has pointed the finger at Russia for intercepting the call and posting it on YouTube.
{mosads}The remarks from a Merkel spokeswoman were first reported by Reuters. The incident is but the latest irritant in U.S.-German relations, which took a blow last year following revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the spy agency had tapped Merkel’s cellphone.
Nuland has apologized to her EU counterparts, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday, after the leaked call became widely known.
The leak appears aimed at discrediting the opposition to pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. In the call, Nuland and Pyatt can be heard discussing which opposition leaders they’d prefer to see in power.
Other European officials sided with the U.S.
“Tapping phone calls and releasing carefully selected bits to support propaganda efforts is an age-old method by some type of regimes,” tweeted Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, according to Reuters.
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