News item | 29-03-2022 | 15:40
Today the ambassador of Russia was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ambassador has been informed that the Netherlands is expelling 17 Russian intelligence officers from the Netherlands. The reason for this is information from the AIVD and MIVD showing that the persons concerned, accredited as diplomats at the Russian representations in the Netherlands, are secretly active as intelligence officers.
The cabinet has decided to do this because of the threat to national security posed by this group. The intelligence threat against the Netherlands remains high. The current attitude of Russia in a broader sense makes the presence of these intelligence officers undesirable. The deportation is a measure taken in the context of national security.
Minister Hoekstra: “Experience shows that Russia does not leave these kinds of measures unanswered. We cannot speculate about that, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is prepared for various scenarios that may arise in the near future.”
The decision was reached in consultation with a number of like-minded countries. The United States, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Montenegro have already announced that they have expelled Russian intelligence officers.