Agents’ trip to The Hague dubbed ‘routine’
MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign minister on Monday dismissed accusations made in the Netherlands against suspected Russian spies, saying they were intended to distract public attention from stark divisions between Western nations.
Sergei Lavrov’s comments were a defiant statement that comes amid soaring Russia-West tensions.
Last week, Dutch officials alleged that four agents of Russian GRU military intelligence tried and failed to hack into the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
British authorities also accused the GRU of a series of global cybercrimes, and the US Justice Department on Thursday charged seven GRU officers with hacking anti-doping agencies and other organisations.
Commenting on the Dutch allegations, Mr Lavrov insisted that the four Russians were on a “routine” trip to The Hague in April when they were arrested and deported by Dutch authorities.
“There was nothing secret in the Russian specialists’ trip to the Hague in April,” Mr Lavrov said at a briefing after talks with Italian counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi. “They weren’t hiding from anyone when they arrived at the airport, settled in a hotel and visited our embassy. They were detained without any explanations, denied a chance to contact our embassy in the Netherlands and then asked to leave. It all looked like a misunderstanding.”
Dutch defence officials on Thursday released photos and a timeline of the GRU agents’ botched attempt to break into the chemical weapons watchdog using Wi-Fi hacking equipment hidden in a car parked outside a nearby Marriott Hotel.
The OPCW was investigating a nerve agent attack on a former GRU spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in Salisbury, England; Britain has blamed on the Russian government. Moscow vehemently denies involvement.
Photographs released by the Dutch Ministry of Defence showed a trunk loaded with a computer, battery, a bulky white transformer and a hidden antenna. Officials
said the equipment was operational when Dutch counterintelligence interrupted the operation.
Mr Lavrov didn’t talk about the evidence provided by Dutch authorities, but President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, challenged the Netherlands to provide specific information through official channels.