MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia opened a criminal investigation Wednesday into an attack on a Dutch diplomat who was tied up and assaulted in his central Moscow apartment.
Unknown assailants forced their way into the man’s home on Tuesday evening, pushed him to the floor and tied him up before ransacking the apartment, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
The incident is likely to worsen relations between Russia and the Netherlands, which have been strained by the brief detention of a Russian diplomat in The Hague earlier this month, for which the Netherlands apologized, and Russia’s September seizure of a Dutch-registered Greenpeace ship in the Arctic and arrest of all 30 people on board.
The Dutch diplomat involved has not been named officially, but Russian tabloid news website Life News, which has close ties to the security services, identified him as Onno Elderenbosch, 60.
Life News also reported that the attackers did not steal anything, but drew a large pink heart on a mirror and scrawled 'LGBT' beneath it – suggesting a homophobic motive.
In a Facebook post Tuesday evening, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said that the Netherlands had summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the situation, and that he expected the Russian authorities to respond appropriately to the incident.
No comments :
Post a Comment