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| Dutch sorry on Russia diplomat case | Dutch sorry on Russia diplomat case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has apologised to Moscow for the arrest and detention of a Russian diplomat. | |
| The incident prompted a diplomatic row, with Russia saying Dmitri Borodin had been beaten and held for several hours. | |
| Neighbours had called police over concerns children were being maltreated in his flat, claims Mr Borodin denied. | |
| After an investigation, Mr Timmermans apologised to the Russian ambassador to the Hague, saying the police had breached rules on diplomatic immunity. | |
| "The state of the Netherlands offers the Russian Federation its apologies," he said in a statement. | |
| Mr Timmermans added that police officers had acted out of professional responsibility. | |
| Prior to the apology, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a "most gross breach" of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. | |
| "We are waiting for explanations and apologies and also for those guilty to be punished," he told reporters on Tuesday. "We will react depending on how the Dutch side behaves." | |
| Ties between Russian and the Netherlands were already strained by the detention of Greenpeace activists in Russia last month. | |
| The Netherlands launched legal action last week to free the activists, who were charged with piracy after a protest on an Arctic oil rig owned by state-controlled firm Gazprom. | |
| The 30 people, two of them Dutch citizens, were arrested aboard the Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. |