US spies to relocate to Poland after German row?
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
14.07.2014 08:22
US intelligence agencies are considering basing their recruitment activities in Warsaw or Prague due to growing pressure in Germany following the NSA spying row, according to German media.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L), FIFA President Sepp Blatter (C) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) attend the closing ceremony prior to the FIFA World Cup 2014 final between Germany and Argentina at the Estadio do Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 13 July 2014. EPA/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY / RIA NOVOSTI
Revelations that the United States had been spying on German politicians and top officials came to a head last Thursday with the CIA station chief in Berlin being asked to leave the country after it was discovered that two US spies had allegedly infiltrated the German government.
The Bild am Sonntag tabloid continued the revelations at the weekend, citing US intelligence sources, that the CIA recruited more than a dozen spies in the defence, development, economy and interior ministries.
Despite US secretary of state John Kerry saying, after a meeting with German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Vienna on Sunday that Washington and Berlin “remain great friends”, the Bild newspaper reports that new locations for the spies are being sort, with locations in Poland or the Czech republic thought most favourable.
Tension over the US spying on German politicians first emerged when whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was monitoring Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone calls and collected data from emails and other online services used by ordinary Germans. (pg)