President Vladimir Putin called on the Netherlands to apologize for the alleged assault and detention of a Russian diplomat in The Hague. He slammed the incident as a “blatant violation” of the Vienna Convention and demanded those responsible be punished.
Speaking at the APEC summit in Indonesia, Putin said Russia was
waiting for an “official apology” after a formal complaint
was lodged with the government of the Netherlands.
"We are awaiting an explanation, an apology and also
punishment of those responsible," Putin said at a news
conference after an Asia-Pacific summit in Indonesia. He added
that Russia would react depending on the course of action the
Dutch side takes.
“The Dutch government is obliged to send a full explanation by
6pm today (14:00 GMT) Moscow time,” said the Russian Foreign
Ministry in an official statement.
@MFA_Russia: In @borodin_nl’s case, all human rights you can think of have been violated. The #Netherlands has been silent.
— MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia) October 8, 2013
Minister-counselor Dmitry Borodin said he was badly beaten by
unidentified men in camouflage uniform who forced their way into
his flat in The Hague on Saturday evening. He was then taken to a
police station and held for a number of hours without any
explanation.
Borodin went on to say that the men did not produce any official
documents showing they were policemen. Moreover, the men ignored
Borodin when he said he was a diplomat.
The Dutch government responded by saying it would apologize only
if an investigation into the incident proved the Vienna
Convention on diplomatic immunity had been breached.
“I can confirm that the Netherlands are leading an investigation
of the incident involving the Russian diplomat detained by the
Dutch police. If the investigation proves there was a violation
of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations then the
Netherlands will apologize to the Russian Federation,” Dutch
Foreign Ministry spokesman Thijs van Son told Interfax.
However, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was not satisfied with
the Dutch response and demanded an “exhaustive
explanation” of the incident.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich added that the
results of the initial talks with the Dutch government on the
issue were “more than disappointing.”
“The attempt of the Dutch side to somehow justify the brutal
police action does not hold water,” Lukashevich said, saying
that the “unacceptable” and “incomprehensible”
incident was not equal to the usual level of Russian-Dutch
relations.
@MFA_Russia:Facts speak for themselves:police break into a Russian diplomat’s flat at night,beat him up and take him to a police station
— MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia) October 8, 2013
Earlier, a spokeswoman for The Hague’s police force confirmed
that there had been an incident involving a member of the Russian
diplomatic mission. She added that "this man is fine. He is
not in the hospital.”
Dutch news agency ANP said the police called at Borodin’s flat
because they had received reports from his neighbors about the
mistreatment of his children.
“They [police] said they had received a call from the
neighbors regarding the mistreatment of the children in this
apartment,” said Borodin, stressing that the allegations were
“false.”
In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch
ambassador to account for the incident. On Tuesday the ambassador
left the ministry, refusing to make any comment to press about
the attack on Borodin.
“Police in The Hague managed to beat up and detain the
second-in-command of the Russian Embassy without any punishment
from the higher authorities. This looks like a response to the
Greenpeace affair,” wrote Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the
Russian President.
The incident has heightened tensions between the Dutch and
Russian governments already at loggerheads over the detention of
Greenpeace activists who staged a protest at a Russian oil rig
off Russia’s north coast. On Friday, the Dutch government said it
was taking legal action to try and release the 30 activists who
were arrested on the Dutch-registered vessel 'Arctic Sunrise’.
In response to the announcement, the Russian government issued a
sharp rebuke to the Dutch government for failing to address the
issue earlier.
“Over the last year-and-a-half the Russian side made repeated
attempts to contact their Dutch counterparts to intervene in the
vessel’s illegal activities,” Russian Foreign Ministry deputy
head Aleksey Meshkov told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
The 30 Greenpeace activists are currently in pretrial detention
and include foreigners from 18 different countries, including the
US, Netherlands and Finland.
The activists were arrested on September 18 when their vessel
approached the Prirazlomnaya rig in the North of Russia. A number
of activists then attempted to scale the sides of the structure,
chief manager of the rig Artur Akopov told RT. Authorities said
that their actions endangered the structural integrity of the
rig.
Greenpeace has denied the charges of piracy set against its
members and announced that it will take legal action against the
Russian police for "serious violations" that occurred when
the Arctic Sunrise was seized. Vigils were held worldwide over
the weekend, calling for the release of the activists.