"Ukrainians also Russians": a diplomat from the Netherlands got into a scandal and lost office

The diplomat was forced to leave a high position after interviewing one of the books published days. "Ukrainians are also Russians. We should not forget about it. Such a reality," he said, communicating with the interviewer. Ron Van Darttel also expressed the opinion that international policies "naive" about Russia, and said that they were suffering from "accepting what is true", waiting for changes in the Russian Federation.

In his turn, the press service of the profile ministry stated that Darttel made an anti-Ukrainian statement before he was appointed Special Representative of the Netherlands on Ukraine. "The statements were made after the resignation of Van Dartel and before his appointment with a special ambassador, but published only now. The Minister and the Ministry did not know about talking to the author," the media journalists answered the questions of the Netherlands Foreign Ministry.

Ron van Darttel is a diplomat with extensive experience. At one time he was an ambassador to Serbia, Poland and Russia. He was also a representative of the Netherlands in the OSCE in Vienna and Organization of Peace and Cooperation in Europe. At the beginning of April 2023, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Cooperation for the development of the Netherlands Lisier Schoraineaire appointed van Darttel with a special representative of business and reconstruction of Ukraine.

The diplomat was already retired, but he still established the links between the Dutch business community, the Ukrainian authorities and international institutions. We will remind, on May 23 the Russian diplomat in the UN resigned. According to Boris Bondarev, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov has been degraded from a professional and intellectual to a person who threatens the world nuclear weapons for 18 years. The diplomat also said he was ashamed of his country.