MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. The European Union demonstrates its own dependence on Washington by keeping quiet about US spying activities in Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing of Thursday.
"It is most amazing there has been no reaction from the [EU] countries that have been affected by US cyber espionage, although there are hard facts to prove this and nobody even dares deny them. What is the reason for such sensitivity towards mythical threats and such absolute indifference towards real threats? Possibly, they are aware that they have no alternative, that they have no freedom of action, that they have no independence in deciding such questions or even reacting to them," Zakharova said in the wake of the latest media reports US secret services had been spying on EU and NATO officials, with some European countries providing assistance.
Zakharova stressed that against this background not a single visit by EU politicians to the countries exposed of spying had been canceled and the Baltic countries on the contrary were stepping up contacts with Denmark, "thus providing political support for such actions."
"The [EU] countries have no national interests that they might pursue at their sole discretion. Possibly, there are such interests, but pursuing them is not allowed," Zakharova said.
On May 30, the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, television broadcaster ARD and WDR and some mass media in Denmark and Sweden said that Danish secret services were providing assistance to the US National Security Agency in spying on European politicians in 2013. According to the media reports, a center near Copenhagen was used for eavesdropping. The row over the NSA erupted back in 2013, when Der Spiegel magazine published disclosures by former CIA employee Edward Snowden. Many more details have surfaced since then. It turned out that the US intelligence had for many year spied on thousands of targets in Europe, eavesdropped German citizens, and on several occasions tapped the telephone of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.