| Filetype: | svg |
Netherlands–Russia relations is the relationships between the two countries, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Russian Federation. Russia has an embassy in The Hague, and the Netherlands has an embassy in Moscow, a consulate in Saint Petersburg, and an honorary consulate in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Since the year 2013 the political relations have become strained due to a number of conflicts and incidents, the most prominent being the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the shooting down of MH17 in 2014 that killed 193 Dutch nationals, and the war in Donbass.
In October 2018, the Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Dutch accused four Russians with diplomatic passports for attempting to carry out a cyber-attack in April on the headquarters of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. Ank Bijleveld told Dutch broadcaster NPO that the Netherlands is in a state of "cyberwar" with Russia.[1]
In 2022 the Netherlands, a NATO member, gave strong support to Ukraine when it was invaded by Russia. Most economic and cultural ties were ended and sanctions imposed.[2]
Peter the Great whilst on his tour of western Europe (1697-1698) visited the Netherlands and practised as a shipwright in Zaandam. During his stay he managed to recruit some Dutch maritime expertise for the newly established Russian navy. One of the most notable Dutch members of the Russian navy was the Norwegian-born captain Cornelius Cruys, who after several years of service reached the rank of admiral and became the first commander of the Baltic Fleet.
Tsar Alexander I of Russia played a central role in the restoration of the Netherlands. Alexander promised to support Prince William and help restore an independent Netherlands with William as king. Russian and Prussian troops drove out the French in 1813.
Since the Russian Revolution, the Netherlands did not have any diplomatic relationships with the Soviet Union until the end of the Second World War.[3] During the war, the Dutch government was in exile.
During WW2, 25.000 Dutch volunteers[4] joined the Waffen SS, and fought on the Eastern front against the Soviet Union. They were not supported by the government in exile.
During the Cold War, all the Dutch consecutive governments perceived the Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact as a threat to its safety.
As the Netherlands is a member of the European Union, the relation between Russia and the Netherlands is closely related to the Russia–European Union relations.
In October 2011 president Dmitry Medvedev met in the Kremlin with the Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte to discuss bilateral ties.[5]
Aside from commerce and politics, there have been some notable Dutch influence on Russian football, with Guus Hiddink in 2006–2010 followed by Dick Advocaat in 2010–2012 as head coach of the Russian national team.[6]
In the year 2013 a number of cultural activities took place in the Netherlands and Russia to celebrate 400 years of diplomatic ties.[7] Russian president Vladimir Putin visited Amsterdam. In October 2013, the ties between the countries were strained when a group of Greenpeace activists were arrested during a protest on an Arctic oil rig owned by Gazprom. On October 9, the minister counsellor Dmitri Borodin, working at the Russian embassy in The Hague, was detained after allegations of abusing his children.[8] Dutch minister of foreign affairs Frans Timmermans apologized later for the violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Subsequently, on October 15, the Dutch diplomat Onno Elderenbosch was physically attacked in his apartment in Moscow by two men posing as electricians.[9] During the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Vladimir Putin visited the Holland Heineken House and drank a beer with King Willem Alexander.
Since March 2014 the Netherlands participated in the European Union economic sanctions against Russia due to the Ukraine crisis. In August 2014 Russia installed a retaliatory boycott of EU agricultural products.[10]
Relations were further strained when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, an airliner carrying 193 Dutch nationals, was shot down over Eastern Ukraine in July 2014, by a BUK missile launcher.[11] A few years later, a Dutch court found two Russians and a Ukrainian guilty. It is unlikely that these people will serve their sentences.[12]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in 2022, the Netherlands, as one of the EU countries, imposed sanctions on Russia, and Russia added all EU countries to the list of "unfriendly nations".[13] The Netherlands joined other countries in spring 2022 in declaring a number of Russian diplomats Persona non grata. In May 2024, Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot said that the Netherlands would not object if Ukraine used Dutch-supplied F-16 fighters to strike military targets inside Russia.[14]
Between 1995 and 2021 Russian exports to the Netherlands have risen by an average of 14.4% per annum.
In 2021 there was an imbalance in trade with the Netherlands importing $39 billion from Russia, mainly crude and refined oil, with exports of only $7.8 billion.[15] In 2022 and 2023 the EU introduced sanctions over Russian oil and oil products as well as gas imports, which the Netherlands has complied with and will greatly reduce the trade imbalance with Russia.