A Dutch national arrested in Moscow for hitting a police officer after a dispute over a traffic sign has been jailed for three years, Russian media report.

The man, named as 61-year-old Harry van Voorden, is said to have hit the officer twice while drunk.

According to earlier reports, the man tripped over a plastic traffic sign and then kicked it in anger. When spoken to by a police officer he lashed out, hitting him twice in the face.

The Dutchman had been under house arrest since the incident.

The “use of violence against a government official,” is punishable by up to five years in prison in Russia.