French swayed Varadkar over poison attack
THE Taoiseach urged the EU to release a stronger statement against Russia during an EU summit, after hearing corroborating evidence from French intelligence of Russian culpability to the Salisbury attack.
Sources say the confidence French had in the legitimacy of the evidence meant Ireland could come to the same conclusions.
Leo Varadkar then moved to work alongside French President Emmanuel Macron to escalate Europe’s response.
According to French sources, intelligence agencies asked the United Kingdom for an outline of the technical operations that took place in Britain in the wake of the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
“We responded favourably [to this operation], which led us to the same technical conclusions,” said the source.
Questions about the “exact type of nerve gas and who exactly has the ability to utilise it” were on the list of questions from the heads of state and government in Brussels.
“Russia is the only one that had Novichok gas,” said the source.
Moreover, managing it is so dangerous that it would almost certainly have to supplied by someone who had been close to where it was created, they said.
Expertise
Russia is the only country that has the nerve gas which was used and the expertise to use it, added the French source.
“We had our own technical examination combined with the intelligence we shared with the British,” they told the Irish Independent.
Mr Varadkar had initially avoided apportioning blame to the Kremlin when he was first asked about Ireland’s likely response at the beginning of the summit.
He condemned the attack but refused to respond to questions as to whether he believed the Kremlin was responsible.
But within hours of a bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and then information from French intelligence, the Irish position changed.
France and Ireland played key roles developing the Europe-wide decision to blame Russia.
“Notwithstanding the evidence presented, Mr Varadkar was also eager to show public solidarity to the UK in the wake of the attack, as a measure of the benefits of being in the EU,” the Irish source said.
Mr Macron’s government moved quick to expel four Russian diplomats.