Germany warns UK on spying Germany has warned Britain that using its embassy for electronic surveillance would be illegal under international law, in the latest sign that revelations of mass US and UK eavesdropping are sowing tension among European allies. German diplomats issued the warning after calling in the British ambassador in protest at reports that the UK embassy in Berlin may have been used for electronic spying, based on leaks from former US intelligence worker Edward Snowden. The UK's Independent newspaper said the Berlin embassy may serve as a "top-secret listening post" and cited leaked documents from the US National Security Agency that suggested the UK could using equipment installed on the embassy roof. A senior German foreign ministry official asked Simon McDonald, the British ambassador, to explain the report and warned that spying from a diplomatic mission was against international law. Peter Schoof, head of the European department, said interception of communications from a diplomatic mission was illegal under international law, according to a German foreign ministry statement. There was fury in Berlin last month when it first emerged that the NSA was monitoring the mobile phone of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, as well as other German officials. The UK's GCHQ eavesdropping service has also come under scrutiny after claims it was working with the US agency to gather data in Europe from internet companies" networks. However, in a sign that Berlin wanted to avoid a blazing row with a fellow EU member, the foreign ministry did not officially "summon" the ambassador but instead "invited" him to the meeting. This was in clear contrast to the treatment of the US ambassador, John Emerson, who was summoned last month amid German outrage over alleged tapping of Ms Merkel's phone. Officials in the British government took comfort from the word "invited" and insisted they were not concerned by the meeting on Tuesday. According to one British coalition aide, the ambassador refused to tell the Germans anything about the alleged listening point, sticking to the British government's position of not commenting on intelligence or security issues. Downing Street said afterwards: "Relations with Germany and Angela Merkel are and will continue to be excellent." Privately, foreign office figures are relieved to have got off relatively lightly, having so far avoided the diplomatic row that followed revelations that the US had listened in to phone calls by Ms Merkel. Thomas Matussek, a former German ambassador to London who now heads the Alfred Herrhausen Foundation think-tank, said: "There will not be a big effect on relations. We are not overjoyed but we have to be realistic. We don't need to exaggerate these things. In contrast to the Merkel phone-tapping story, the latest reports were given only limited attention by the German media, even though it seems possible that the British operation contributed to eavesdropping on the chancellor. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading newspaper, published on its website a photograph of a white cylindrical structure on the British embassy roof, with the caption, "the bone of contention." However, Berlin still bristles with the tensions generated by the Snowden affair. The Bundestag's intelligence control committee is due to consider on Wednesday how to respond to an offer from Mr Snowden to talk to German officials following his surprise meeting in Moscow last week with the opposition Green MP Hans-Christian Ströbele. Some German politicians have called for Mr Snowden to be granted asylum in Germany but the government is sceptical. Hans-Peter Friedrich, interior minister, told the Münchner Mercur newspaper that Mr Snowden was not a victim of political persecution.