Dutch foreign minister quits after lying about Putin meeting

By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra resigned on Tuesday after admitting that he had lied about attending a meeting in 2006 at which he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had outlined a strategy for building a greater Russia. The incident has embarrassed Prime Minister Mark Rutte's four-party coalition government, which has a precarious parliamentary majority of just one seat. It risks undermining Dutch foreign policy at a time when diplomatic ties between the Netherlands and Russia have hit a low point, largely over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, allegedly by pro-Russian separatists.

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