Russia-Netherlands Tension: Thugs Beat Up Dutch Diplomat and Daub Lipstick 'LGBT' on Apartment

A Dutch diplomat in Moscow was beaten up by two intruders in his flat a week after a Russian official was arrested for allegedly mistreating his two children in the Netherlands.

The assistant to the Dutch ambassador in Moscow Onno Elderenbosch, 66, was slightly wounded but is in good condition, according to RIA Novosti.

The men gained entry to Elderenbosch's residence after posing as electricians. After attacking the diplomat, the assailants then trashed his apartment and scrawled a heart and the LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender - acronym with a lipstick on a mirror.

No motive for the attack has been put forward yet.

Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans said he had summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident.

"Our people must be able to work there [in Moscow] safely and I want assurances from the Russian authorities," he wrote on Facebook.

Tensions between the two countries were strained last week when Russian diplomat Dmitri Borodin was arrested by Dutch police on alleged child abuses charges. Authorities later admitted he was held in violation of diplomatic immunity.

Timmermans was forced to issue a swift apology after Russian president Vladmir Putin demanded an immediate explanation and apology from The Hague.

The Hague and Moscow have been at odds since September when Russian authorities arrested the crew of the Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. Around 30 activists, who had tried to scale an offshore oil platform owned by Gazprom, the state-run energy company, are being held in Murmansk on piracy charges awaiting trial.

The Netherlands is taking legal action under the UN's Law of the Sea to free all the Artic Sunrise's crew, who have been held without bail for two months. The crew includes two journalists, who could face up to 15 years in jail.