Politics

Merkel's Dossier on Putin Unlikely to Offer UK Intelligence Any Juicy Info

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under fire for taking briefings from UK intelligence rather than her own security services. Merkel also shared the results of German intelligence investigations with the UK, without telling her German colleagues.

Merkel held several meetings with UK intelligence agencies, including Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which according to the German Bundestag's NSA Investigation Committee, carried out extensive illegal wiretapping in Germany.

The final meeting took place in October 2015 at the Prime Minister's Chequers residence, near London. The German Chancellor took a briefing from GCHQ chief Robert Hannigan, the head of domestic security agency MI5 Andrew Parker and head of the UK's foreign intelligence agency MI6, Alex Younger.

The German magazine Focus reports that as a thank you for the briefing, Merkel handed the UK intelligence agencies a German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) dossier with information about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Crimea.