MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia opened a criminal investigation Wednesday into an attack on a Dutch diplomat who was tied up and assaulted in his central Moscow apartment.
Unknown assailants forced their way into the man’s home on Tuesday evening, pushed him to the floor and tied him up before ransacking the apartment, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
The incident is likely to worsen relations between Russia and the Netherlands, which have been strained by the brief detention of a Russian diplomat in The Hague earlier this month, for which the Netherlands apologized, and Russia’s September seizure of a Dutch-registered Greenpeace ship in the Arctic and arrest of all 30 people on board.
The Dutch diplomat was identified by a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson as Onno Elderenbosch, 60.
“Moscow expresses its regret for this deplorable incident,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich. “Russian law enforcement agencies are talking all necessary steps to find and punish those involved in this crime.”
Russian tabloid news website Life News, which has close ties to the security services, reported that the attackers did not steal anything, but drew a large pink heart on a mirror and scrawled "LGBT" beneath it – suggesting a homophobic motive.
In a Facebook post Tuesday evening, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said that the Netherlands had summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the situation, and that he expected the Russian authorities to respond appropriately to the incident.
Updated with statement from Foreign Ministry spokesperson
