Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had summoned the Dutch ambassador in Moscow to protest after it said surveillance equipment was found in the car of a Russian military attache in the Netherlands.

"Russian Foreign Ministry lodged a resolute protest to the Dutch ambassador over the surveillance equipment found in the car of the Russian military attache in The Hague," the ministry said in a statement.

"These unfriendly actions further complicate the already difficult relations between the two countries," the statement said. Moscow called for immediate measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, according to the ministry.

The ministry called on the Netherlands to take measures to stop such incidents, stressing that "such unfriendly actions complicate already difficult bilateral relations."

According to Dutch public television, Prime Minister Mark Rutte declined to comment. In recent years, espionage cases have multiplied between Russia and Western governments, with relations at their lowest since the Ukrainian crisis and Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

(With input from AFP)