WASHINGTON — After months of taking grief for snooping on foreign leaders, the Obama administration found itself on the other side on Thursday after a private telephone call between two American diplomats appeared on the Internet in a breach that the White House tied to Russia.
In the recording, an assistant secretary of state and the ambassador to Ukraine are heard talking about the political crisis in Kiev, their views of how it might be resolved, their assessments of the various opposition leaders and their frustrations with their European counterparts. At one point, the assistant secretary uses an expletive in a reference to the European Union.
The conversation opened a window into the American handling of the crisis and could easily inflame passions in Kiev, Brussels and Moscow, where the role of the United States has been controversial. The White House on Thursday suggested that Russia, which has jockeyed with the United States and Europe for influence in Ukraine, played some role in the interception or dissemination of the conversation.
“The video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters. “I think it says something about Russia’s role.”
Asked if he was accusing Russia of recording the conversation, Mr. Carney said: “I’m not. I’m just noting that they tweeted it out.”
In a later briefing, Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said she had no information about who posted the recording but criticized Moscow for promoting it. “Certainly we think this is a new low in Russian tradecraft,” she said.
Another administration official privately confirmed the authenticity of the tape, which was posted anonymously on YouTube on Tuesday under a Russian headline, “Puppets of Maidan,” referring to the square occupied by protesters, and reported on Thursday by the Kyiv Post.
A link to the secret recording was sent out in a Twitter message earlier Thursday by the account of Dmitry Loskutov, an aide to Russia’s deputy prime minister. “Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU,” the message said, clearly trying to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe.
Obama administration officials took that as confirmation of their suspicion that the conversation was intercepted or at least disseminated by Russia’s government, which has sheltered Edward J. Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who exposed American eavesdropping of foreign leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany.
While the revelation prompted the White House to cancel surveillance of friendly foreign leaders like Ms. Merkel, administration officials defended themselves by noting that many governments spy on American officials as well. American diplomats have long assumed that their telephone calls were tapped by Moscow, but rarely if ever have the Russians made recordings public.
The administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the fact that this one was made public was a sign of desperation by the Russians, who in this view are trying to stop the Americans from brokering a settlement of the standoff between President Viktor F. Yanukovych and the Ukrainian opposition. It came to light even as Ms. Nuland was in Kiev on Thursday talking with both Mr. Yanukovych and opposition leaders.
Viktor F. Yanukovych, president of Ukraine, and Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs
Mr. Loskutov, responding to messages from a reporter on Twitter, rejected the American assertion that he was first to disseminate the recording. “Disseminating started earlier,” he wrote in English, adding that his Twitter post was being “used to hang the blame” on Russia. Asked if Russia had any role, he said: “How would I know? I was just monitoring ‘the Internets’ while my boss was off to a meeting with the Chinese leader.”
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No Inquiry Into Bugged Phone Call by Ukraine Security
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s state security service said Saturday that it was not investigating the bugging of a phone call between American diplomats in which they weighed which opposition leaders to back for a possible new government to replace Ukraine’s current pro-Russian one.
American officials have accused Russian officials of disseminating the recording of the phone call between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the American ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, while both were in Kiev, though they have not accused Russia of having tapped the phones.
”The Ukrainian Security Service is not conducting any investigation into the matter at this time,” Maxim Lenko, a senior investigations official in the Ukrainian State Security Service, said at a news conference in Kiev.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, already furious with Washington over reports that American intelligence agencies had recorded her conversations, found Ms. Nuland’s remarks “totally unacceptable,” her spokeswoman said.
On Friday, a second recording was posted in which a senior German diplomat, Helga Schmid, complained to the European Union envoy in Kiev about “unfair” American criticism of Europe’s diplomacy.
Ms. Nuland has been Washington’s point person on Ukraine since a crisis broke in the former Soviet republic last November, bringing thousands of protesters out onto the streets of Kiev. The intercepted phone call was released as Ms. Nuland visited Kiev to discuss American ideas for ending the crisis with President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
On Friday, Ms. Nuland laughed off the episode, saying the bugging operation was “pretty impressive tradecraft.”
She said she did not think it would rebound on relations with opposition leaders, with whom Western governments are trying to work as part of efforts to end Ukraine’s crisis.