It is not the end of the world, we have a very positive agenda
Ambassador defends Moscow’s expulsion of Irish diplomat
RUSSIA’S ambassador to Ireland yesterday defended the expulsion of an Irish diplomat from Moscow.
Yury Filatov said the measure was a principle of diplomacy after Ireland ejected a Russian representative over the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning.
The senior official urged the Irish Government to use common sense after the country was among several EU countries to take action in solidarity with the UK.
Mr Filatov said: “Nobody will doubt the leading principle of diplomacy, which is reciprocity.
“Basically you have to assume every action finds its counter action – that is the way it is.”
He expressed optimism it would not damage the positive relationship between the two countries where close ties exist in areas such as business and agriculture.
Mr Filatov also suggested some who followed the UK’S lead harboured doubts, alleging the general public in Europe and some states and nations did not buy the claim put forward by London blaming Russia for Salisbury.
He added: “Even countries which took part in the so-called solidarity demands have doubts and they acted, as we know, on grounds which have nothing to do with Salisbury but mainly to do with some other agenda bilaterally or multilaterally.”
Tanaiste Simon Coveney has described the Salisbury attack as an affront to international law and order.
Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in hospital following the March 4 incident. Moscow’s ambassador to Ireland said the expulsion of a Russian official from Ireland was “unfortunate” but did not have any bearing on the “real state of things”.
Mr Filatov added: “It is not the end of the world and we have a very positive agenda.”
He said business and agricultural ties were developing and that he struggled to understand British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s thinking on the Salisbury attack.
Mr Filatov added: “You might assume that if it is not Russia then somebody did it and you have to just look at someone who would benefit from that, either
Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia were attacked last month criminally or politically. I don’t know but some experts have suggested quite a number of scenarios and some of them, which seem plausible, involving sectors of the British Government.”
The Ambassador added his government wants the international chemical weapons watchdog to get involved. He said: “The Russian Government have asked the Executive Council of the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] to call an extraordinary session in The Hague tomorrow. “We hope to discuss the whole matter and call on Britain to provide every possible element of evidence they might have in their hands.
“Russia is interested in establishing the whole truth of the matter and we hope certainly this meeting will help to return to at least the realm of normality within the realm of international law and, let’s put it, decency in international relations.”