The Netherlands will not prosecute the police officers involved in the arrest of a Russian diplomat in The Hague last week, despite Russian calls for justice, a Dutch newspaper reported Friday.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview with the Telegraaf newspaper, set to be published Saturday, that he sees no reason to punish those involved, Volkskrant reported Friday.
"That is not an option. It's not going to happen. The police's account gives us no reason to do so," Rutte said in the interview, Volkskrant reported.
Following the incident on Oct. 5 in which Russian diplomat Dmitry Borodin was reportedly beaten and detained in The Hague, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that "those responsible for the attack be held accountable" in a note of protest sent to the Dutch authorities.
In the interview, the Dutch prime minister also said that the planned visit of King Willem-Alexander to Moscow, set for Nov. 9 to honor bilateral ties between the two countries, should go ahead, despite calls for the 'friendship' year to be scrapped following an attack on Dutch diplomat Onno Elderenbosch in Moscow earlier this week.
Rutte declined to comment on the possible role the monarch could fulfill in bridging the rift between the two countries.
"We shouldn't use the King as a pawn," the prime minister said.
Tensions between Russia and the Netherlands have flared up in recent weeks following Borodin's arrest and the assault on Elderenbosch.
On Thursday, a property reportedly owned by the Russian Embassy in The Hague was broken into.
See also 'Break in at Russian Embassy Staff Apartment in The Hague.'
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