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Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns After Admitting Lie

by VOA News

   Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra resigned Tuesday after admitting
   he had lied about attending a 2006 meeting with Russian President
   Vladimir Putin.

   Zijlstra went before members of parliament and said he had decided to
   step down because the foreign minister's credibility must be "beyond
   doubt."

   He held the position for about four months.

   Prime Minister Mark Rutte faced questions about why he had not made the
   lie public despite having known about it for several weeks. He said he
   underestimated the impact it would have.

   Parliament held a no-confidence vote Tuesday, but Rutte easily
   survived.

   The scandal involving Zijlstra risks undermining Dutch foreign policy
   at a time when diplomatic ties between the Netherlands and Russia have
   deteriorated, largely over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight
   MH17 over Ukraine, allegedly by pro-Russian separatists. Most of the
   298 people who died in the crash were Dutch.