MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned Netherlands Ambassador in Moscow Gilles Plug and issued a protest to him over the recruitment of a Russian military attache in the Hague by a member of the UK intelligence services.

"Netherlands Ambassador in Moscow Gilles Plug has been summoned to the Russian MFA on October 31. He was issued a resolute protest over a recruitment approach to the military attache of the Russian embassy in the Hague by a member of the UK intelligence services on October 20 of this year. It was stressed during the conversation that such provocative moves are unacceptable, run counter to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and hinder a normal functioning of Russia foreign missions," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also said Russia insists that "the Hague takes exhaustive measures in order to prevent such incidents in the future, including by the countries that the Netherlands calls its allies."

Russia calls on the Dutch authorities to refrain from such unfriendly actions leading to further degradation of bilateral relations.

The ministry highlighted that several such provocations have been committed against Russian employees by foreign special services in the Netherlands in recent years. For example, CIA representatives approached a diplomat of the Russian permanent mission to the OPCW in a park in December 2018, and tried to recruit a Russian embassy attache in the restricted area of the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in December 2019.

According to the statement, officials and law enforcement agencies of the Netherlands "not only don’t stop these illegal actions, but also participate in them." For example, in April of this year, employees of the Dutch special services tried to recruit three Russian diplomats who had previously been declared personae non gratae, and in July last year, tracking equipment was found in the car of an embassy diplomat in the Hague during regular maintenance.

"The unpunished actions of special services are accompanied by provocative media stories and campaigns," the statement said. "Contrary to the legislation in the field of personal data, employees of Russian foreign missions and members of their families find their personal data published and are almost without exception, including the ambassador, face unsubstantiated accusations of espionage."