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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Senior Dutch diplomat beaten up in Russia |
| 2013-10-17 |
| [Al Ahram] A senior Dutch diplomat at the Netherlands embassy in Moscow was beaten up at his home in the Russian capital by unknown attackers who scrawled the letters "LGBT" on a mirror, officials said Wednesday. The incident comes amid growing tensions between Russia and the Netherlands over the arrest by the Russian authorities of the 30 crew of a Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship campaigning against oil drilling in the Arctic. The deputy head of the Netherlands mission in Moscow, Onno Elderenbosch, was approached at his home by men who presented themselves as electricians and then beat him up, Russian news reports and officials said. The intruders who broke into his flat took nothing but scrawled in pink lipstick the letters LGBT (standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and a drawing of a heart, the Interfax news agency and lifenews.ru website quoted a security source as saying. The diplomat, 60, was not badly harmed and did not seek medical attention, the reports added. The Russian Investigative Committee, which handles criminal probes into major crimes, confirmed that a Dutch citizen had been attacked on Tuesday evening. It said in a statement that the intruders bound the diplomat with tape and later expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. A criminal inquiry has been opened into an illegal break-in. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans confirmed the attack on his Facebook page, saying that Elderenbosch was assaulted by two intruders. He said he had called the diplomat, who was now doing fine. Timmermans added that he was summoning the Russian ambassador for explanations over attack on Elderenbosch, who is the number two diplomat at the embassy in Moscow. "Our citizens must be able to work in all security and I want assurances from the Russian authorities that they are going to take their responsibilities on this point," he said. Tensions between Russia and the Netherlands surged last week when police in the Hague incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a Russian diplomat over accusations he was mistreating his children. The Netherlands later apologised for breaching the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. The Netherlands have launched legal action to free the Greenpeace activists, who have been charged with piracy and face up to 15 years in jail. The Greenpeace crew have been held in Murmansk for almost three weeks after their ship Arctic Sunrise was seized by Russian security forces in a commando-style operation in Arctic waters. Two of their activists climbed up an oil platform owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom which plans to start producing the first oil from Russian Arctic waters next year. The so-called "Arctic 30" have been placed in pre-trial detention until November 24 and courts have so far rejected all requests for bail. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 He's already getting everything he wants, and winning. So it seems kinda pointless to me. It's that little "f**ck-you" that makes it extra special to the sender. Something Putin and our current WH occupants have in common. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-10-17 14:28 |
| #5 I wonder what Kerri Dunn thinks about it? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-10-17 01:52 |
| #4 This is Putin's half-clever version of the old Stalinist discrediting technique. Stalin - if you disagree with me, you must be crazy! Off to the padded cell mental hospital with you. Putin - You're a junkie; into the hoosegow with you; it's for your own good. Same shit, different decade... |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-17 01:08 |
| #3 The Greenpeace crew have been held in Murmansk for almost three weeks after their ship Arctic Sunrise was seized by Russian security forces in a commando-style operation in Arctic waters. They supposedly found good smack on board (not planted, I'm sure!); Ima guessing they're all through the DT's by now with the Soviet Spin-dry version of the Betty Ford clinic... |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-17 01:00 |
| #2 He's already getting everything he wants, and winning. So it seems kinda pointless to me. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-10-17 00:44 |
| #1 Maybe I'm a rube, but I think this is Putin delivering a message... |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-17 00:32 |