Moscow says Netherlands spy case an anti-Russia smear

LONDON (Reuters) – Moscow accused the Netherlands on Friday of an “anti-Russian marketing campaign” after Dutch authorities introduced the detention of a person they stated was a Russian spy attempting to infiltrate the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC).

The Dutch intelligence service stated on Thursday it had uncovered a Russian navy agent utilizing a false id to hunt an internship on the ICC, which is investigating accusations of warfare crimes in Ukraine.

Russia’s overseas ministry stated the Netherlands was “planting data” to whip up a scandal and “scare the general public with speak of ‘insidious machinations’ of the Russians.”

Moscow usually accuses Western governments of “Russiaphobia,” together with in response to quite a few accusations of spies concentrating on European organisations and educational establishments during the last decade.

“The anti-Russian espionage marketing campaign unleashed within the nation (the Netherlands), accompanied by purposeful ‘leaks’ of doubtful content material, doesn’t trigger something however harm to the already unhealthy bilateral relations,” the assertion added.

The ICC stated it had uncovered a years-long operation by Russia’s GRU navy intelligence service to plant an agent in below cowl as a Brazilian in search of an internship.

“It’s vital that the incident occurred in early April, and the Dutch authorities solely determined to report it three months later,” the Russian assertion stated.

It accused the Netherlands of releasing the data to try to enhance assist for the ICC investigation into accusations of Russian warfare crimes in Ukraine.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Human rights organisations have documented “obvious warfare crimes” dedicated by Russia, and EU Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen stated in April she believed that Russia’s actions appeared to represent warfare crimes.

Moscow denies concentrating on civilians.

(Reporting by Reuters; Enhancing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Cawthorne)