Russian Foreign Ministry Summons Dutch Ambassador Over Intelligence Provocations

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Dutch ambassador has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday over provocations against Russian diplomats by foreign intelligence services, the ministry said.

"The Dutch Ambassador to Moscow, Beschoor Plug, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. A strong protest was expressed to him in connection with the recruitment approach by UK intelligence services to the military attache of the Russian embassy in The Hague on October 20. During the conversation, it was stressed that such provocative actions are unacceptable, contradict the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and hinder the normal functioning of Russian foreign missions," the ministry's statement read.

In recent years, foreign intelligence services have committed several provocations against Russian diplomatic employees in the Netherlands, the ministry added.

"In recent years, several such provocations have been committed against Russian employees in the Netherlands by foreign special services, which, as we see, feel themselves at home on Dutch territory. In December 2018, representatives of the CIA [the US Central Intelligence Agency] approached a diplomat of the Russian permanent mission to the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] in a park, in December 2019, they persuaded an attache of the Russian embassy to cooperate in the closed zone of Schiphol airport in Amsterdam," the statement said.

According to the Russian foreign ministry, Dutch authorities and law enforcement agencies do not stop such illegal actions, but also take part themselves.

"In April, employees of the Dutch special services tried to recruit three Russian diplomats who had previously been declared 'persona non grata.' In July 2020, tracking equipment was found in the car of a diplomat of the embassy in The Hague during regular maintenance check," the ministry said.

The Russian foreign ministry calls on Dutch authorities to refrain from unfriendly actions that lead to further degradation of bilateral relations.