Political Dialogue Between Russia, Netherlands Virtually Frozen - Russian Diplomat

Political Dialogue Between Russia, Netherlands Virtually Frozen - Russian Diplomat

Political dialogue between Russia and the Netherlands has been very limited in recent years, and the Dutch side is to blame, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First European Department has said in an interview with Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) Political dialogue between Russia and the Netherlands has been very limited in recent years, and the Dutch side is to blame, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First European Department has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"In recent years, political interaction between Russia and the Netherlands has been virtually frozen. There are almost no contacts at the government level. The Hague [where the country's authorities are seated] should be responsible for this, as the Netherlands refused to cooperate with our country five years ago," Aleksey Paramonov said, adding that continuing anti-Russia statements on the part of Dutch officials had further worsened relations between the countries.

The official also said that Dutch politicians had regularly voiced false claims that there is a "Russian threat to the West," and mentioned a scandal over the alleged Russian cyberattack on the Hague-based headquarters of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons in 2018. Moscow has denied any involvement in the cybercrime.

"The cancellation of the visit of the Dutch parliament delegation to Russia in February 2020 is also one of such provocative acts," Paramonov added, specifying that Moscow believed inter-parliamentary dialogue would help restore relations between the countries.

The Dutch embassy has confirmed that the Netherlands' parliamentary delegation canceled its February visit to Russia after lawmaker Sjoerd Sjoerdsma had been denied entry. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Netherlands was briefed beforehand that Sjoerdsma should not be part of the delegation over his aggressive statements about Russia.