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The former commander said in a statement that he had stayed in touch with Ms. Cretu by email since stepping down as US secretary of state in 2005. “Over time the emails became of a very personal nature, but did not result in an affair,” Mr. Powell said in a statement.

“Those types of emails ended a few years ago. There was no affair then and there is not one now.”

Mr. Powell said he had offered Ms. Cretu advice on finding a job at the UN but that he had not seen her in several years.

“We remain friends and are in touch. I am pleased that she is having a successful career. I am pleased that she is recently and happily married,” he said.

The emails came to light after Mr. Powell was hacked by Guccifer, a prolific hacker who also targeted the email accounts of US officials, former FBI agents and friends and family of the Bushes.

At one stage the hacker gained access to Mr. Powell’s Facebook page and began posting parts of the emails as well as linking to a more detailed archive of correspondence.

Mr. Powell warned Ms. Cretu that the hacker “may have lots of your emails” and said it would be “best to delete all between us.”

This was a friendship that electronically became very personal and then back to normal

“In light of what was happening it seems obvious to ask Ms. Cretu to delete emails,” he told the Smoking Gun.

Mr. Powell admitted that the MEP had sent him “some bathing suit photos” as well as pictures of her family and her work but said there was “never anything improper.”

“This was a friendship that electronically became very personal and then back to normal,” he said.

A picture from July 2011 shows the pair together in Washington. In her blog, Ms. Cretu described him as “one of the most avid observers of global developments and also an old and good friend of Romania.”

Ms. Cretu’s office in Brussels could not be reached for comment and she did not respond to an email sent to an account listed on her website.