Political veteran named as new Dutch foreign minister
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Dutch government has named a political veteran as its new foreign affairs minister to replace the envoy who quit last month after admitting that he lied about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The government information service announced Monday that Stef Blok will be sworn in Wednesday by King Willem-Alexander.
Blok, a long-serving member of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, left politics following an election last year, but has been recalled by Rutte to replace Halbe Zijlstra.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Zijlstra's position as the country's top diplomat became untenable after he admitted lying about attending a meeting with Putin in 2006 when, according to Zijlstra, Putin said he considered Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states part of a "Greater Russia."