MOSCOW, November 2./TASS/. Relations between Russia and the Netherlands are showing certain signs of improvement this year, but the situation is far from ideal, Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Alexander Shulgin told an online briefing on Tuesday.

"This year we have seen a small improvement. The diplomatic advisor of the Dutch prime minister visited Moscow. Quite recently we had interesting, meaty consultations of an inter-departmental nature on issues of international information security," said Shulgin, who is also Russia’s permanent representative to the OPCW.

"Consultations between concerned departments of our countries’ foreign ministries are expected to be restarted," Shulgin added.

However, in general the situation in relations between Russia and the Netherlands is far from satisfactory, he went on to say. In particular, inter-parliamentary relations were frozen and the work of the intergovernmental commission, a major mechanism of economic cooperation, was stalled.

"If we want to get things rolling, we need to make active efforts. But this is a two-way street. We are ready to cooperate with our Dutch partners as much as they themselves are ready to cooperate with us," Shulgin said.