Netherlands expels 17 Russian diplomats over security threat News
Marjonhorn / Pixabay
Netherlands expels 17 Russian diplomats over security threat

The Netherlands Tuesday expelled 17 Russian intelligence officers, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra. In a statement via Twitter, Hoekstra said the officers operated in the Netherlands “under diplomatic cover” and were “a threat to the security” of the nations. According to TASS, a Russian state-affiliated news outlet, the 17 officers were “accredited as diplomats in Russian diplomatic missions.”

Hoekstra noted that the Netherlands’ action was taken “in coordination with other like-minded” nations. The North Macedonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday announced that five staff members of the Russian embassy “were declared persona non grata” and given five days to leave the country for “engaging in activities contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”

Similarly, Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) identified 45 individuals with diplomatic status in Poland as “Russian special services officers and their associates.” The director of the ABW requested “urgent” expulsion for all 45 individuals.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the Polish action a “move towards the ultimate break of bilateral relations.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

UK parliament passed Statute of Westminster

On December 3, 1931, the UK Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, under which the British dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland gained complete legislative independence. The statute received royal assent and came into force on December 11.

President Theodore Roosevelt calls for dissolution of trusts

On December 3, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt called for the dissolution of business trusts in his first State of the Union address. Roosevelt would go on to dissolve 44 trusts during his administration, earning the nickname "Trust Buster".