Tonight, the Dutch government announced that it will close the country’s consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, while at the same time limiting the number of Russian diplomats at the Russian embassy in The Hague.
“Russia continues to try to smuggle intelligence agents to the Netherlands under the guise of diplomacy. We cannot and will not allow this to happen,” Foreign Minister Bopke Hoekstra said.
“At the same time, Russia is denying Dutch diplomats visas to work at the consulate in St. Petersburg or the embassy in Moscow,” he added. For this reason, it was decided to reduce the number of Russian diplomats in the embassy in The Hague, making them equal to the Dutch working in the Dutch embassy in Moscow. “Therefore, a number of diplomats will have to leave the country within two weeks,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the exact number.
The government also ordered the closure of the Russian trade agency in Amsterdam until Tuesday.
Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.
Source: Kathimerini
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