The Foreign Ministry in Moscow called in the Dutch ambassador on Monday over an alleged attempt by UK spies to recruit a senior Russian diplomat in the Netherlands.
The incident follows several instances during which Western intelligence agencies have tried to approach Russian personnel serving abroad, Moscow claims.
The ministry said it had voiced a “strong protest” to Netherlands’ envoy Gilles Beschoor Plug, claiming that “a representative of British intelligence services” had tried to sway a Russian military attache in the Hague on October 20.
Adding that such “provocative actions,” which violate the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, are “unacceptable,” and hinder the normal operations of Russian foreign missions.
Moreover, “the Dutch authorities and law enforcement agencies not only do not prevent such illegal actions but also partake in them themselves,” the statement read, adding that in April, Dutch spies tried to recruit three Russian diplomats who had previously been declared ‘persona non grata.’
The Foreign Ministry also urged the Netherlands to “refrain from such unfriendly actions that lead to further erosion of bilateral ties” while calling on authorities to thwart such overtures in the future, including those made by its allies.
According to the ministry, this is not the first time foreign intelligence operatives have attempted to recruit Russian diplomats on Dutch soil. In December 2018, the CIA approached a diplomat with Russia’s Permanent Mission to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in an unspecified park, while a year later US intelligence tried to sway a Moscow attache in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.