BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had asked the British ambassador to come and discuss a report that Britain was operating a covert spying station in Berlin, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.
Documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden show that Britain's surveillance agency is operating a network of "electronic spy posts" from within a stone's throw of the Bundestag and German chancellor's office, British newspaper Independent reported.
"At the instigation of Foreign Minister (Guido) Westerwelle, the British ambassador was asked to come for a talk at the Foreign Ministry," a German Foreign Ministry statement said.
"The director of the European department asked for an explanation of current reports in British media and indicated that tapping communications from a diplomatic mission would be a violation of international law."
The Foreign Ministry's request for an explanation is a less serious diplomatic move than summoning the ambassador.
In London, a spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said the ambassador had not been formally summoned to the meeting. She declined to say what had been discussed.
State surveillance is an especially sensitive subject in Germany, a country haunted by memories of eavesdropping by the Stasi secret police in the former communist East.
Allegations of British surveillance surfaced just weeks after reports the United States' spying agency tapped Merkel's phone, prompting a furious response from Germany and a flurry of diplomatic and political activity, as Berlin pushes for a no-spying deal with Washington in order to restore trust.
(Reporting by Berlin bureau; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
- Politics & Government
- Foreign Policy
- Germany
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