Some call the leak a "new low in Russian tradecraft." Others "a wake up call about the way you do business."

But the State Department official caught saying "fuck the EU" in a bugged phone conversation about the future of Ukraine — which was promptly leaked to YouTube — has a new way of referring to the incident.

Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland, who leads the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and had yet to comment on the diplomatic diss (aside to say she won't be commenting) before now, calls it "a tactical moment in time."

Speaking with Bulgarian National Television on Monday in the western capital city of Sofia, Nuland was pointedly asked about her call with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and, specifically, when she "mentioned the F word."

"That was a very particular situation where we were trying to get some international support for Ukraine, we were looking for a vehicle to deescalate," she says, according to a transcript provided by the State Department. Later, she says it was "a tactical moment in time, where in a private moment there was a temporary frustration because we couldn’t get some help."

Here's the unedited portion of the transcript (you can watch the clip but be forewarned — it's tough to make out what the assistant secretary is saying underneath the translated remarks):

Question: Some time ago, did you really say that phrase about the EU and could you repeat aloud the word you said on the phone?

Assistant Secretary Nuland: I think you are probably referring to a private conversation…

Question: Yes, private but leaked…

Assistant Secretary Nuland: …that was illegally taped, was released to the public. I am going to guess that every single one of your viewers has said things in private conversations that they never expected would be out in public….

Question: But we are not diplomats…

Assistant Secretary Nuland: No, but again, that they are not particularly proud of, that do not represent the totality of their views. That was a very particular situation where we were trying to get some international support for Ukraine, we were looking for a vehicle to deescalate. If you listen to the conversation you understand that we ended up focusing on the UN at that moment.

Question: Do the United States and Western Europe have different interests today?

Assistant Secretary Nuland: Do the United States and Western Europe have different interests today?

Question: Yes.

Assistant Secretary Nuland: I don’t think so. I think if anything…

Question: When you mentioned the F word, I mean…

Assistant Secretary Nuland: No, no, no, that was a tactical moment in time, where in a private moment there was a temporary frustration because we couldn’t get some help that we…

The interviewer asks Nuland if she is sorry for using the word, to which the assistant secretary responds, "Suffice to say that [there] have been many apologies issued, it was a private moment, it was a private frustration at a tactical place and time."

She then adds: "In civilized society we don’t tape private conversations and put them on the Internet. This was part of a campaign to manipulate events in Ukraine, to manipulate relationships between the United States and Europe and it very much backfired."

Here's the full leaked tape, which was uploaded by an anonymous user on Feb. 6 and titled "Maidan Puppets," a reference to the protests that played out in Kiev's central square over the past few months. The moment in question occurs at 3:03.