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Spain wants explanation over US spying

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Spain’s Foreign Ministry has demanded explanations from the American Embassy after a recent report revealed that US National Security Agency (NSA) listed Spain as one of its spying targets.

The demand was given during a meeting on Monday between Luis Calvo, the ministry’s deputy director for North American policy, and US charge d’affaires Luis G. Moreno .

According to diplomats, Moreno said he understood the “given reasons and concerns expressed” by Spain and that he would seek to gain more information regarding the surveillance.

The report was published by German weekly Der Spiegel on August 10 and revealed that Spain is ranked as a mid-priority by the NSA in a list of spying targets.

The German weekly also said that the NSA listed the European Union as one of its key priorities along with countries Iran, Russia and China.

The report was the latest of number of publications revealing US spying operations based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The first revelations published in June showed the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have bugged offices and spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington, New York and Brussels; and they have gathered information of American citizens and other people all around the world.

The disclosures triggered an outrage from both European countries as well as several other countries and even threatened to derail a huge trade deal between the United States and the European Union.

Snowden is wanted by the US, where he is facing charges of espionage and theft of government property in the country.

However, the former NSA contractor was granted a one-year asylum in Russia on August 1, a move that caused US President Barack Obama to cancel an upcoming bilateral meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

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