Diplomatic stars like highly visible special envoys apart, practitioners of diplomacy are rarely to be found in the limelight of media attention. Not so for Dmitri Borodin, Minister-Counselor at the Russian Embassy in The Hague.
The Russian diplomat is at the center of a nasty diplomatic row between Russia and the Netherlands. Neighbors called the local police when the diplomat, supposedly excessively drunk, was seen to maltreat his own children. Four police officers rang the Borodins’ doorbell and took the diplomat away for questioning.
From the APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia, president Putin was quick to show his outrage. The same day Netherlands Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans offered a public apology to the Russian Federation.
Was the Russian government right to be so upset, and was it necessary for the Dutch to apologize?
The incident gives evidence of the incompatibility of two different legal worlds, with international law prevailing. Putin was quick to point out that the Dutch had overstepped their mark in what amounted to a breach of international rules on diplomatic immunity.