The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said Russia’s move to ban 52 Irish officials is a very “unwelcome distraction” and an effort to unsettle Ireland and its political system.
Simon Coveney said Ireland “should not play this game”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Coveney said Ireland’s role on holding Russia to account for what it is doing has “been very effective” and it should continue to focus its attention on this.
“We should focus on where the real war is which is in Ukraine where Russia is clearly responsible for war crimes.”
He said none of the 52 people who are subject to this travel ban are planning to travel to Russia anytime soon.
Mr Coveney would not be drawn on who is on the list, but said the politicians are predominantly from Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and some Independents and one or two other party representatives and it does not cover all political parties.
He said he does not “want to insinuate anything” from who is on the list and who is not.
He said it is a decision by Moscow to target Ireland and he said he wants to look beyond “this distraction”.
“It it is not our job to publicise that. We have informed each of the individuals who are on the list so they know themselves and that is as much as we are going to do.”
He added that Ireland is assisting the Ukrainian military during this war with non-lethal weaponry only and “that is not going to change”.
A meeting was yesterday held with Russian ambassador Yury Filatov and Deputy Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs Sonja Hyland, where it was conveyed to him that Russia’s behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable”.
There have been several calls to expel the Russian ambassador, including from some within the Government ranks.
Mr Coveney’s comments come as a declaration is set to be signed today in Dublin Castle by up to 80 countries calling for more focus on use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
“This morning, up to 10 million people have no power and many of them no water in Ukraine today, a country that is now starting to see snow falling and so we have parents trying to figure out how they’re going to heat their children,” the minister said.
“This is the human consequence of a war of aggression that is now targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians that we are trying to call out.”
He said that Ireland effectively signed up to be the champion to try and lead on the explosive weapons and, last summer in Geneva, managed to get a declaration agreed, working with the International Committee for the Red Cross, which is now leading to the conference and Dublin declaration.
Russian ban on Irish officials ‘unwelcome distraction’
Source: Viral Trends Report
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