Dutch foreign minister Halbe Zijlstra has resigned after admitting he
lied about being in Russian president Vladimir’s dacha in 2006 and
hearing Putin talk about his plans for a greater Russia.
Zijlstra had been under fire since admitting on Monday that he lied about overhearing Putin define ‘Greater Russia’ as ‘Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states,’ then adding that ‘Kazakhstan was nice to have’.
He had been due to debate the incident with MPs on Tuesday afternoon but resigned ahead of the scheduled debate.
In a short statement, Zijlstra said the lie was ‘by far the biggest mistake I have made in my political career’. ‘The Netherlands,’ he said, ‘deserves a foreign affairs minister who is above all reproach.’
Note EU-Digest: a courageous move by Halbe Zijlstra showing respect, as a politician, for Democratic values, in contrast to US President Donald Trump, who is able to lie on a daily basis and get away with it.
Read more: Dutch foreign minister resigns after lying about Putin meeting - DutchNews.nl
Zijlstra had been under fire since admitting on Monday that he lied about overhearing Putin define ‘Greater Russia’ as ‘Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states,’ then adding that ‘Kazakhstan was nice to have’.
He had been due to debate the incident with MPs on Tuesday afternoon but resigned ahead of the scheduled debate.
In a short statement, Zijlstra said the lie was ‘by far the biggest mistake I have made in my political career’. ‘The Netherlands,’ he said, ‘deserves a foreign affairs minister who is above all reproach.’
Note EU-Digest: a courageous move by Halbe Zijlstra showing respect, as a politician, for Democratic values, in contrast to US President Donald Trump, who is able to lie on a daily basis and get away with it.
Read more: Dutch foreign minister resigns after lying about Putin meeting - DutchNews.nl
