Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 4 September described a 3 September comment about the Beslan hostage drama by Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot as \"insolent,\" RFE/RL reported on 6 September. Bot told an EU meeting that the union sympathizes with Russia\'s loss but \"would also like to know from the Russian authorities how this tragedy could have happened.\" Deputy Foreign Minister Valerii Loshchin said on 4 September that Bot\'s remark \"is offensive and borders on the sacrilegious.\" RFE/RL reported that Bot\'s office later said Bot had been misquoted. On 4 September, the website of the Dutch EU presidency quoted Bot as saying, \"In order to better understand what happened at the school, we would like to learn more details from the Russian authorities so we can help each other to combat terrorism in any form anywhere in the world.\" RFE/RL reported that unnamed EU sources said that Bot had come under considerable pressure from some EU colleagues -- particularly the foreign ministers of Latvia and Finland -- to go beyond merely expressing sympathy for Russia\'s losses. (RFE/RL)