Merkel angered by US diplomat's insult to EU
Baku, February 8 (AZERTAC). German chancellor criticises Victoria Nuland's disparaging comments in leaked phone call about ignoring EU over Ukraine.
Washington's new top diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, has apologized to EU counterparts after she was caught cursing the European response to the crisis in Kiev.
US officials, while not denying such a conversation took place, didn't go into details about the apology, and pointed the finger at Russia for allegedly bugging the diplomats' phones.
A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she sees Nuland's comments as "absolutely unacceptable".
"The chancellor considers this statement absolutely unacceptable ... and wants to emphasise again that (EU foreign policy chief Catherine) Ashton is doing an outstanding job," she said.
I would say that since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia's role.
A video, titled the "Marionettes of Maidan" referencing the centre of protests in Kiev, was published on YouTube on February 4th, and shows photos of Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
In the audio, voices resembling those of Nuland and Pyatt discuss international efforts to resolve Ukraine's ongoing political crisis.
At one point, the Nuland voice colourfully suggests that the EU's position should be ignored.
Other news in this section
