The Dutch foreign ministry on Saturday announced the expulsion of several Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam, accusing Moscow of using it for spying.
“Russia keeps trying to secretly get intelligence agents into the Netherlands under cover of diplomacy. We cannot and we will not allow that,” Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a statement.
“At the same time Russia refuses to give visas to Dutch diplomats who would work at the consulate in St Petersburg or the embassy in Moscow.”
Nonetheless, it was important to keep embassies open as a communications channel even with relations with Russia so strained, he added.
The Russian trade mission in Amsterdam will be forced to close its doors on Tuesday, while “a number” of diplomats will have to leave within two weeks, according to the Dutch foreign ministry.
The Dutch moves come after a number of recent spy incidents. In June last year, the Netherlands said it had stopped a Russian spy posing as a Brazilian intern from infiltrating the International Criminal Court, which is investigating war crimes in Ukraine.
In 2018 the Netherlands expelled four alleged Russian GRU spies whom it accused of trying to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog while it was investigating attacks in Syria.
