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Lavrov not surprised by WikiLeaks’ reports that US spied on French presidents

According to WikiLeaks, NSA spied on three French presidents - Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande - by listening to their phones and intercepting their e-mails

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov TASS/Ilya Pitalev

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© TASS/Ilya Pitalev

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Hollande to hold emergency meeting with Security Council on WikiLeaks’ report

PARIS, June 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Wednesday that he is not surprised by Wikileaks’ reports claiming that US secret services spied on French presidents’ phones.

"I haven’t seen those [reports], but I will not be surprised. At least, I would say that today during talks all microphones went off and back on from time to time," he noted.

According to WikiLeaks, NSA spied on three French presidents - Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande - by listening to their phones and intercepting their e-mails.

The Liberation newspaper wrote that the spying was described in five secret reports by NSA based on intercepting data transmitted via communication networks. The reports were made for US surveillance community, Liberation said. Only five documents were later shared with US closest allies - Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - in the framework of the Five Eyes program of sharing intelligence.

The operation was conducted from 2006 until May 2012, Liberation wrote. The last intercepted information was dedicated to secret talks in the Elysee Palace in 2012 about Greece’s possible exit from the euro zone.

French President Francois Hollande will hold an emergency meeting with the country’s Security Council devoted to the report published by WikiLeaks later on Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov United States France WikiLeaks

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