Dutch ambassador to Russia summoned after attempts to ‘recruit’ Russian diplomats
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that it had summoned the Dutch ambassador to Russia to “strongly protest” against attempts to ” recruitment “ of Russian diplomats in the Netherlands by Western intelligence services.
During this summons, Moscow “strongly protested against an attempt to recruit the military attaché of the Russian Embassy in The Hague on October 20 by a representative of the British intelligence services”according to the same source. “Such provocative actions are unacceptable. (…) and interfere with the normal functioning of Russian establishments abroad”underlines the press release.
According to Russian diplomacy, several ” Provocation “ Similar actions by Western special services towards Russian diplomats have taken place in the Netherlands in recent years. In December 2018, CIA officials attempted to recruit, ” in a park “, a diplomat from the Russian Mission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In December 2019, they attempted to“encourage cooperation” an attaché of the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands “in a private area of Schiphol Airport” in Amsterdam, the statement said.
Russian diplomacy accuses the Netherlands “not only not to prevent these illegitimate acts, but also to participate in them”. Thereby, “in April, members of the Dutch special services attempted to recruit three Russian diplomats who had earlier been declared personae non gratae”. In July 2020 in The Hague, “surveillance equipment was discovered in the car of an embassy diplomat” Russian, says the press release. Russia is calling “the Dutch authorities to refrain from these hostile acts which lead to a further deterioration of bilateral relations” and asks for “comprehensive measures to prevent such incidents in the future”he adds.