The General Intelligence and Security Service said the agents worked at the Russian embassy and had diplomatic accreditation.
"Both intelligence officers have been declared persona non grata by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the Dutch agency said. "Consequently they are no longer allowed to work as diplomats in the Netherlands, and they will have to leave the country forthwith."
The Dutch agency known as the AIVD said that the officers both worked for Russia’s civil intelligence agency known as SVR. One of them built a network of sources who work or used to work in the high-tech sector in the Netherlands, the AIVD said, the second agent "played a supporting role."
Did they use hollowed-out rocks and holes in tree stumps to drop off their microfilm? This sounds like old-school espionage, and it is. It’s probably not the most sophisticated spycraft the Russians have at their disposal, but the fact that they even still engage in such actions suggests Putin, for all his KGB wiles, may have lost some edge on his fastball.