The Hague has officially notified Moscow of
the top diplomat's visit cancellation.
THE HAGUE,
February 13. /TASS/. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra has
tendered his resignation over the scandal around his lying about meeting the
Russian president back in 2006.
Announcing
his decision during debates in the national parliament, Zijlstra said those
statement was the biggest mistake in his political career and his country
deserved a better foreign minister who could be trusted.
The diplomat said in an interview with in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant he had lied about being at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2006.
Earlier,
Zijlstra said that in early 2006 as a representative of Shell he attended a
meeting with Putin, when the Russian leader allegedly said he considered Belarus,
Ukraine, the Baltic States and Kazakhstan as part of "Greater
Russia."
On the same
day, the minister apologized for his words saying it was silly of him to say
that. But opposition parties requested parliamentary debates on confidence to
Zijlstra.
In the
meantime, the Dutch foreign minister was to fly to Moscow later on Tuesday to
have talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on the following day.
The Netherlands has officially notified Russia of Zijlstra’s visit
cancellation.
Source: ITAR-TASS 14-02-2018
