Expelling Russian ambassador would risk ‘breakdown’ in diplomatic relations – McEntee

Expelling the Russian ambassador would risk a “complete breakdown” in diplomatic relations at a time when channels should be kept open, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said.

Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week programme, Ms McEntee said she understands why Government TDs “are so upset” and calling for the expulsion of Yury Filatov, but that while “nothing is off the table”, there was a need to keep diplomatic links open.

“We have over 50 Irish nationals still in Ukraine, we have Irish parents who are due surrogacy in the next couple of weeks, we have Irish citizens who are living in Russia and there is a potential that if the ambassador is expelled we would see the closure of our embassy in Russia and a complete breakdown in diplomatic relations,” she said.

Ms McEntee said the Irish Government had provided €10 million to the Ukraine in financial support and “even more” would be given. She said visa requirements were waived and she would work to support anybody who sought refuge in Ireland.

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Ms McEntee said the Government had decided to close Ireland’s airspace to Russian aircraft and carriers and that it would be coming into force “as soon as possible”.

“I think there may be a lead-in time or a requirement in that regard so I don’t have the exact time,” she said.

“But that decision has already been taken so it will be happening quickly.”

Ms McEntee said the toughest and strictest possible sanctions were needed against Russia so that “Russia knows there are consequences for their actions here”.

Support for expulsion

However, a number of Government TDs doubled down on their demand that Mr Filatov be expelled. Charlie Flanagan, the Fine Gael TD for Laois-Offaly and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he supported the expulsion of a Russian diplomat in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack in 2018, and wanted to see the ambassador kicked out.

Mr Flanagan also raised questions about the size of the Russian embassy in Dublin, the expansion of which was resisted by the previous Government amid fears that intelligence functions there could also be extended.

“The Russian embassy in Dublin is the biggest foreign mission in Dublin. It’s out of all proportion with the level of Irish/Russian commercial, trade, political or people-to-people contact,” he said.

Jim O’Callaghan, the Dublin Bay South TD for Fianna Fáil, reiterated his belief that the ambassador should be expelled. He was among the almost 40 members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party who signed a petition urging that over the weekend.

“It would be a modest and appropriate response to this act of aggression,” he said. “We shouldn’t wait for other countries to act before taking our own stand.”

Senator Timmy Dooley also reiterated his commitment, saying the “time for diplomacy has passed for now”.

Neale Richmond, the Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown, said the expulsion was “inevitable” but expressed a desire for co-ordination.

Cavan-Monaghan TD Niamh Smyth said she would like to see all EU member states expel their Russian ambassadors, while Kildare North’s James Lawless – who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee – said of Mr Filatov: “He plays the gallery and is a good diplomat, but he has lost the trust now of the committee I believe, and of many others.”

Fianna Fáil TDs Cormac Devlin and Chris O’Sullivan reiterated their stance, with Mr O’Sullivan saying: “Any diplomat who brazenly lies to our faces, then comes on national TV trying to justify an act of outright murder, cannot be tolerated. Expulsion is the right option.”

Television appearance

Paul McAuliffe TD said people had contacted him “outraged” after Mr Filatov’s appearance on RTÉ on Friday evening.

“Diplomacy is the formality of communications between nations and it includes the ultimate communication of expelling an ambassador. It is part of the system of diplomatic protocols. I can think of no greater reason to take that ultimate diplomatic action.”

Minister of State for EU Affairs Thomas Byrne said he “certainly” did not want the Russian ambassador in Ireland but that the issue had to be dealt with by Government in a “dispassionate way”.

“We want to do this at a European level, that there’s a common approach that is far more effective, that everybody does the same thing,” Mr Byrne told Newstalk’s On the Record show.

“We also want to make sure that if we have problems with our citizens in Russia that there is somebody there somebody there to help them.

“Obviously if you expel diplomats here, there’s a tit for tat and Irish diplomats get expelled on the other side.”

Mr Byrne said Irish diplomats previously working in Ukraine had left the country on Friday. He said Russian president Putin was “clearly a very evil person” and nobody knew “what’s in Putin’s mind”.