Russia calls Dutch ambassador to account for spies' deportation

Russia summoned the Dutch ambassador to Moscow to account for the Netherlands' deportation of four Russian spies who were planning to hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), RTL Nieuws reports

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned the Netherlands that this whole spy affair puts serious pressure on the ties between them. The Ministry called the Dutch accusations about Russian cyber attacks part of a planned propaganda campaign against Russia.

The four Russian agents arrived in the Netherlands on April 10th, according to Dutch military intelligence and security service MIVD. They all had a diplomatic passport and large amounts of cash - 20 thousand euros and 20 thousand US dollars - on them. Surveillance footage from Schiphol shows them arriving and being met by an employee from the Russian embassy.

Three days later the Russian officers were in the vicinity of the OPCW headquarter in The Hague, preparing to hack the OPCW network, according to the MIVD. The men had specialist equipment on them that could be used to intercept and manipulate WiFi traffic. They were deported that same day.