Netherlands apologizes for Russian diplomat's arrest
MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - Russia's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the Dutch government apologized on Wednesday for the arrest of a senior Russian diplomat in The Hague.
"On behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the minister of foreign affairs of that country, Frans Timmermans, offered official apologies to the Russian Federation for the violation of international law, namely the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, in connection with the detention by Dutch police of Dmitry Borodin, minister-counselor at the Russian Embassy in The Hague," Russian ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
"Timmermans said the findings of their investigation into the incident would be shared with the Russian side," Lukashevich said.
Timmermans passed the apologies and promise to provide investigation findings via the Russian ambassador to the Netherlands, Roman Kolodkin, the spokesman said.
Earlier, Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Thijs van Son told Interfax the Netherlands had apologized to Russia but stressed that it was solely the violation of the Vienna Convention and not the incident with Borodin as such that his country was apologizing for.
Later, the Dutch ministry said as much in an official statement.
"On the basis of information provided by the police, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frans Timmermans, has come to the conclusion that the arrest and detention of the Russian diplomat, who enjoys full immunity, violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. For this, the State of the Netherlands offers its apologies to the Russian Federation," the English-language statement said.
"At the same time, Mr. Timmermans recognizes that the police officers concerned were acting in accordance with their professional responsibility in responding to a reported situation."
In the incident, which occurred in The Hague late on October 5, armed men in camouflage uniforms burst into Borodin's apartment, claiming he was abusing his children, beat him up and took him to a police station, where he was kept until morning. He received no explanations or apologies on his release.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia expected official explanations about the incident from the Netherlands, and that it depended on such explanations whether Moscow would revise its relations with the Western European country.
"We need explanations and apologies from the Netherlands. And we want to know what disciplinary measures will be taken against those police officers," Lavrov told Russia Today television.