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Associated Press

The Dutch foreign affairs minister has resigned, a day after admitting that he lied about attending a meeting hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin more than a decade ago.
An emotional Halbe Zijlstra announced his resignation at the start of a debate Tuesday at which he was expected to be grilled by opposition lawmakers about the lie.
He said that “the Netherlands deserves a minister who is above any doubt” and that “I see no other option today than to hand in my resignation to his majesty the King.”
Zijlstra, a member of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right VVD party, is the first minister to quit since Rutte’s four-party coalition was sworn in last year.
He was seen hugging Rutte after announcing his resignation in parliament.

Zijlstra has in the past said he attended a 2006 meeting when Putin said he considered Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states as part of a “Greater Russia.”
On Monday, Zijlstra conceded he wasn’t present at the meeting but heard the story from somebody who was.
Dutch minister admits lying about meeting with Putin
He said he considered Putin’s statements so geopolitically important that he spoke about them publicly and took credit for hearing the comments as a way of protecting his source.
The Russian embassy in the Netherlands waded into the debate by issuing a statement accusing some in the Netherlands of distributing “fake news” aimed at discrediting Moscow by suggesting it has expansionist ambitions.
“This can only be heard from those who are interested in presenting Russia as an enemy and who under the pretext of the notorious ‘Russian threat’ keep pushing Nato military infrastructure eastward, therefore consciously provoking military confrontation,” the Russian statement said.
The spat came a day before Zijlstra was due to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow.



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Diplomacy

Dutch foreign minister quits after lying about meeting Vladimir Putin

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra hugs prime minister Mark Rutte after he announced his resignation in the Dutch parliament De Tweede Kamer in The Hague, Netherlands, on February 13, 2018. Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra resigned today, after only four months in the job, after admitting he had lied about his presence at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I see no other option today than to hand in my resignation to his majesty the King," a tearful Zijlstra told MPs in a hastily-called session of parliament, just hours before he was due to leave on an official trip to Moscow. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Martijn Beekman / Netherlands OUT

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra (centre) leaves the Dutch parliament, Tweede Kamer, after resigning following a false claim he met Vladimir Putin. Photo: EPA-EFE

Dutch foreign minister admits lying about meeting with Putin on eve of trip to Moscow

File photo of Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra. Photo: AFP

Dutch King Willem-Alexander (R) and Queen Maxima (C) speak with Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra (L) at the Netherlands embassy in Beijing on February 7, 2018. The royal couple are on a two-day working visit to China. / AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

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