Merkel and Obama first meeting after CIA scandal in Berlin

 

 

By Jaime Ortega.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke today by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and proposed a bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Their first conversation since the expulsion last week of the head of the CIA in Berlin. “The president spoke today with German Chancellor Merkel on Ukraine, Iran and cooperation between the U.S. and Germany,” said in his Twitter account the deputy of national security and adviser to the White House, Ben Rhodes.

Soon after, the official spokesman Josh Earnest said U.S.  in a statement that Obama and Merkel “exchanged views” on cooperation in intelligence. “The president said it would maintain close communication on ways to enhance cooperation ,” Earnest said.

Relations between Washington and Berlin experiencing low moments after the German intelligence found this July a German spy accused of acting as a double agent for Washington.

In addition, federal prosecutors announced last week that it was investigating a person who works at the German Ministry of Defense  with the possibility that he had leaked information to U.S. intelligence services. Repeated cases of espionage led Germany to ask the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the U.S. embassy in Berlin to leave the country.

The White House has avoided comment on any of these two cases being linked to intelligence activities.

Measures against Russia

Moreover, the two leaders agreed on the conversation today that Russia “must take immediate steps to reduce tension in eastern Ukraine.” Merkel and Obama believe that Moscow should support a bilateral ceasefire, a roadmap for dialogue under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the establishment of a monitoring mechanism of the border between Russia and Ukraine by that entity.

Moreover, both agreed that the Kremlin should encourage pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine to release all hostages and stop the trafficking of heavy artillery, equipment and human resources flowing to the rebels. “The leaders agreed that so far neither the U.S. nor Germany have seen Russia or meet those aforementioned actions,” Earnest said.

They also chatted about the ongoing negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program between Iran and Group 5 +1 (U.S., China, Russia, France, the UK and Germany) and the progress made during the talks.

“They agreed that it is imperative that Iran take steps to assure the international community that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes,” Earnest said.

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