The Times: Merkel shared with British intelligence data about Putin

The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel shared with British intelligence information about President Vladimir Putin. According to The Times, this happened during the October visit of Merkel to London. According to the publication, the briefing was held at the suburban residence of the British Prime Minister David Cameron in his presence. The meeting was attended by the head of the MI5 counterintelligence service Andrew Parker, the head of the British Foreign Intelligence Mi6 Alex Yanger and the director of the Great Britain Center for Government Robert Hannigan.

Merkel, claims The Times, received data on the Islamic State terrorist group from the heads of the UK special services. In particular, she was informed about the degree of threat of IS for European countries, and also shared data on foreigners who fights in Syria and Iraq. In turn, Merkel transmitted “useful” information about Putin, the situation in Ukraine and the situation in Crimea.

Details of negotiations in the material are not given. “They had a long discussion of Syria and Russia,” added a source in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

British and German special services exchange information at the official level enough regularly. However, such meetings, during which the heads of the British intelligence services directly transmitted the information to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and received data from the leader of Germany, are quite rare, writes The Times.

During the October meeting, Merkel and Cameron agreed to maintain sanctions against Russia until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. They also discussed the situation in Syria and the issue of British membership in the European Union.