MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) – A break-in at the apartment of a Russian Embassy employee in the Netherlands that appeared to be the latest incident in a series of diplomatic spats between the two countries was a “normal burglary” committed by a repeat offender, the Dutch foreign minister said Friday, citing police.
Frans Timmermans praised the Dutch police for establishing the burglar’s identity so quickly, in a post written in Dutch on his Facebook page late Friday – the same day that Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it expected the Netherlands to take “exhaustive” measures to find the culprit of the break-in in The Hague, which Dutch police had said Friday appeared to be an ordinary theft.
The burglary at the apartment, whose inhabitant was away on holiday, was discovered Thursday evening, and followed other diplomatic incidents that have strained the two countries’ relationship.
On Tuesday, a senior Dutch diplomat was tied up and attacked in his apartment in the center of the Russian capital. Moscow expressed its regret over the attack, for which no one has yet been detained.
That incident echoed an episode 10 days earlier in which Dmitry Borodin, a senior Russian diplomat in The Hague, was allegedly beaten in his apartment before being briefly detained by Dutch police. The Netherlands subsequently apologized to Russia over the detention.
Tensions began simmering between the two countries after armed Russian border guards seized a Dutch-registered Greenpeace ship last month following an enviromental protest at a Russian oil platform in the Arctic. Russian authorities arrested all 30 people on board – including two Dutch nationals – and charged them with piracy.
The activists, who represent 18 different countries, face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. They are all currently in pre-trial detention in the northern Russian city of Murmansk; all requests for release on bail have so far been rejected by the courts.
The Dutch government launched legal arbitration proceedings against Russia on October 4 over the charges, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country would appeal to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea if the situation isn’t resolved by Monday, Russian media reported Saturday, citing Dutch media company NOS.
Russia and the Netherlands are currently celebrating a year-long festival highlighting the cultural links between the two countries. Timmermans said this week that, despite the recent friction, a planned visit by the Dutch royal family to Russia next month as part of the festivities would still go ahead, Dutch media reported.
