Moscow to summon Dutch envoy over cyber-attack claim: agencies

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The Russian foreign ministry was to summon the Dutch ambassador on Monday after the Netherlands said it had foiled a cyber attack by Russians, state news agencies reported.

“Due to the campaign of disinformation carried out in The Hague the Dutch ambassador will be summoned to the foreign ministry on Monday,” a source in the ministry told RIA Novosti state news agency.

The Netherlands said Thursday it had expelled four GRU military intelligence agents in April for an attempt to hack into the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

At the time of the alleged plot the OPCW was investigating the March poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury.

It was also probing allegations of a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Douma by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Moscow.

The suspected agents were travelling on Russian diplomatic passports.

Moscow last summoned the Dutch ambassador Renée Jones-Bos along with the Swiss ambassador in September over over what it called “unsubstantiated accusations” that Russian spies had attempted to hack Swiss targets.

Russia has dismissed accusations it has orchestrated a string of global cyber attacks as “spy mania”.