Russia official denies role in Nuland leak
AP February 8, 2014, 1:05 pm
A Russian government aide who posted a video online containing a bugged phone call between US diplomats has denied he or the government played a role in leaking the recording.
Dmitry Loskutov said he was surfing a social-networking website on Thursday when he came across the video, in which the top US diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, disparages the European Union.
Loskutov, an aide to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, told the Associated Press his decision to repost the video had no connection to his work for the Russian government.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday that Loskutov's post pointed to Moscow's possible involvement.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the video was "a new low in Russian tradecraft", indirectly suggesting Russia was responsible for bugging the call.
Loskutov posted a link on Twitter, which he said proved another anonymous user had posted the video on Wednesday, the day before he did.
"I think you're better off asking the titushki (about the origins of the video)," he said, using the word Ukrainian protesters have used to describe violent, government-paid thugs who are meant to delegitimise the protest movement.
The AP verified the post cited by Loskutov was made on Wednesday, but the sender could not be identified.
In the video, voices resembling those of Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine discuss international efforts to resolve Ukraine's ongoing political crisis.
At one point, the Nuland voice suggests the EU's position should be ignored.
"F*** the EU," the female voice said.
Nuland has been active in US efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, where anti-government protesters have been camped out in downtown Kiev for almost three months after President Viktor Yanukovych announced he was shelving an association deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Nuland said on Friday she would not comment on the video, except to say it was "pretty impressive tradecraft", echoing the State Department's phrase.
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU would not comment on "allegedly intercepted communication as a position of principle."
A spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German leader considered Nuland's comment "absolutely unacceptable".
The spokeswoman, Christiane Wirtz, said Germany believes the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "is doing a marvellous job".
