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Break-In at Russian Embassy Staff Apartment in The Hague

The Russian Embassy building in The Hague. Roman Lukaschuk

An apartment under the management of the Russian Embassy in The Hague has been broken into amid mounting diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Police officers are working with the Russian Embassy to investigate the markings left by the forced entry, which took place on Thursday. The first findings are expected to be announced on Friday.

The residence does not have diplomatic status, but neighbors told local media that Russian Embassy staff live there, Interfax reported Friday.

The Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said in a statement that he regrets the incident, the local Telegraaf newspaper reported.

The break-in is the latest in the series of diplomatic conflicts that have frayed ties between Russia and the Netherlands over recent weeks. Two men posing as electricians attacked senior Dutch diplomat Onno Elderenbosch in his Moscow apartment on Tuesday night.

A Russian diplomat, Dmitry Borodin, was reportedly assaulted and detained in The Hague a little more than a week earlier on accusations that he mistreated children.

Despite the streak of recent diplomatic conflicts, Timmermans said on Thursday that the planned visit of the King Willem-Alexander and his wife will go ahead on Nov. 9 as planned, RIA Novosti reported. The visit is set to wrap-up a year of celebrating the bilateral relations between the countries.

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