Dutch leadership could have ordered Russian diplomat's arrest - Pushkov
MOSCOW Oct 8 (Interfax) - Chairman of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov said the detention of a Russian diplomat in The Hague could have been authorized by the Dutch authorities.
"I don't think the police in The Hague could have ventured to beat up and detain the second most important person in the Russian embassy without a top-level order. It looks like a reaction to the Greenpeace affair," Pushkov twitted on Tuesday.
Pushkov earlier told Interfax that the detention of a Russian diplomat in the Netherlands may reflect that country's position on the Greenpeace affair.
"The question arose: Is there a link between the Netherlands' rigorous position on the arrest of Greenpeace activists and a Greenpeace ship sailing under the Dutch flag?" Pushkov wrote.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans demanded the arrested Greenpeace activists' immediate release even though they had committed and offence, he said.
"I cannot judge whether there is a link here. However, the Dutch law enforcement services' strange conduct and the crude violation of the Vienna Convention suggest that these two events are connected," Pushkov said.
"It is hard to believe that the diplomat was arrested, beaten up and held at a police station all night long for allegedly harsh treatment of his children," he said.
Pushkov said that social services in Europe act rigorously when reports arrive about children's maltreatment.
"The scandalous conduct of European social services has reached a level that has prompted the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to draw up a report in this issue," he said. He said the report is being prepared by State Duma Deputy Olga Borzova and that a draft is likely to be released by the summer.
