Russia denies G-20 spying reports

ROME - Russia denied reports in the Italian media and elsewhere Wednesday that Russian spy agencies distributed special USB thumb drives doctored to let them eavesdrop on delegations attending last month’s Group of 20 summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Corriere della Sera, a leading Italian newspaper, published allegations Wednesday that the G-20 meeting was the scene of a major effort in Russian espionage, a report swiftly picked up by news agencies and newspapers in other countries. According to the paper, Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, had a debriefing with security officials after returning from St. Petersburg.

The security team then conducted an examination of the thumb drives, which the Russians distributed as gifts to the 300 foreign delegates, who also received stuffed teddy bears, cups, diaries and cables to connect smartphones with computers, the Italian paper reported. Later, the European Council’s security office sent a report to G-20 participants, warning that some of the USB drives, as well as the cables, appeared to have been tampered with, according to Corriere della Sera.

The European officials then handed the devices to German intelligence services, which conducted more tests and concluded that the sabotaged electronic equipment could be used to intercept data from computers and mobile phones.

“We don’t know the sources of the information,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to RIA Novosti, the state news agency. “However, this is undoubtedly nothing but an attempt to shift the focus from issues that truly exist in relations between European capitals and Washington to unsubstantiated, nonexistent issues.”

European leaders have been angered by reports that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on allies in Europe, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The U.S. spying operation has created a diplomatic crisis for President Barack Obama’s administration, stirring fury in France, Spain and Germany, while intensifying criticism in Washington about the scope and methods of U.S. espionage.

The head of Spain’s intelligence services will give a private briefing to a parliamentary committee about allegations that Spain was a target for U.S. surveillance, the prime minister said Wednesday. He did not announce a date for the session.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy spoke a day after National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander told a U.S. House intelligence panel that millions of telephone records of European citizens were swept up as part of a NATO program to protect the alliance. Alexander said, however, the U.S. didn’t collect the European records alone.

Speaking in parliament, Rajoy didn’t refer to Alexander’s comments, but said Spain was taking the allegations of U.S. spying seriously. He said such activity, if confirmed, is “inappropriate and unacceptable between partners.”

Meanwhile, a German delegation met with American officials at the White House as part of Berlin’s efforts to probe allegations that Merkel’s cellphone was monitored by U.S. intelligence.

National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement that the dialogue focused on ways to “provide the necessary assurance” and “strengthen our cooperation,” and that the U.S. looks forward to continuing the discussions.

The heads of Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies also will visit Washington “in the coming days,” said Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert. He did not say whom the Germans were meeting.

The United Nations said Wednesday that it has received assurances from the U.S. government that U.N. communications networks “are not and will not be monitored” by American intelligence agencies. But chief U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky would not comment on whether the world body had been monitored in the past, as reported recently by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Reports of possible spying also touched the Vatican on Wednesday. The next issue of the Italian newsmagazine Panorama, to be published today, reports allegations that the National Security Agency gathered data on Vatican phone calls last year and may have continued the snooping until the conclave that elected Pope Francis in March.

Federico Lombardi, a spokesman for the Vatican, said Wednesday that he knew nothing of any spying and played down the report. “We are not worried in the least,” he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Jim Yardley and Gaia Pianigiani of The New York Times and by Ciaran Giles, Sylvie Corbet, Derek Gatopoulos, Peter James Spielmann, Juergen Baetz Geir Moulson and Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press.