Moscow expulsion of Irish diplomat ‘unjustified’ – Coveney

THERE is “no justification” for the expulsion of an Irish diplomat from Russia, a spokesperson for Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said.

The embassy official has been given until April 9 to leave the country as the fallout from the attack in England on former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia continues.

In the wake of the attack, the US and countries across the EU, including Ireland, took the decision to expel Russian officials.

Yesterday afternoon, the Irish Ambassador to Russia, Adrian McDaid, was called to the Russian Foreign Ministry and instructed that one of Ireland’s nine diplomats in the country would have to leave.

A spokesperson for Mr Coveney said: “There is no justification for this expulsion.

“Our staff do not engage in activities which are incompatible with their diplomatic status.

“This decision to expel an Irish diplomat is regrettable.

“The person hasn’t done anything wrong; they are a private citizen and we wish to afford them this privacy.”

According to sources, the official will be redeployed to another part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, either in Dublin or to another foreign mission.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in Dublin said that it should come as “no surprise” that an Irish diplomat is to be expelled from Moscow.

The spokesman said: “They were handed notes of protest and told that the Russian Federation declares persona non grata the relevant number of diplomats from these countries working on diplomatic mission s in Russia.”

He confirmed this was in response to the “unjustified expulsion of Russian diplomats based on proof-free” accusations relating to the Skripal poisoning.

The Russian diplomat from the Dublin embassy is due to leave Ireland next Friday.

The EU is recalling its ambassador for consultations.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has confirmed that it is expelling 60 Russian diplomats. The State Department has issued a statement saying that the US is holding Russia accountable for its “destabilising behaviour”.

Such a hostile move by the Trump administration has come as a surprise in some quarters, given Mr Trump’s warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While the tit-for-tat course of action comes as no surprise to the Irish Government, the matter of the attempted extra-judicial killing in Salisbury is not over. “Salisbury is still a live investigation,” said an Irish source, and the questions of further EU sanctions remains.

At least 26 countries have now expelled Russian diplomats suspected of being spies.

Russia denies having anything to do with the use of the Novichuk chemical agent, although weapons inspectors say it was designed by Soviet-era weapons manufacturers.

The EU says there is no other “plausible” explanation other than the attack being part of a Russian plot.