[2] He attended secondary education at vwo level and studied sociology at the University of Groningen, after which he worked for several companies.

[4] On 14 October 2010, Zijlstra was appointed as State secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the newly installed First Rutte cabinet.

[4] After Rutte's first cabinet lost a motion of no confidence in 2012 and new elections were held, Zijlstra returned to the House of Representatives as chairman of his party's parliamentary group.

The source that told me about Putin's quotation confirmed the events to the Volkskrant, and appreciates the fact that I guarantee anonymity.

"[8][9][10] Former Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer, who attended several talks with Putin, is the source of the story.

Van der Veer told the events to Zijlstra in 2014 but clarified in an e-mail to de Volkskrant that Putin's 2006 remarks were "meant historically" and "not by himself" interpreted in the sense of "aggression".

[12] In 2015, Zijlstra authored an op-ed for the NRC Handelsblad daily in which he criticized the Iran nuclear deal framework as "a historical error," a view that echoed Israel’s.

He commented: "If the British leave, we’ll have lost an important partner and protectionist spirits will get a louder voice.