Russian ambassador should apologise

Sir, – Surely it is outrageous for the Russian ambassador to accuse Ireland of becoming militarily involved in Ukraine by agreeing to help to remove landmines at the request of the Ukrainian prime minister (“Russian ambassador to Ireland says involvement in training mission will bring State into conflict”, News, October 27th). Indeed, that is all the more shocking when we know that the widespread dispersal of landmines invariably tend to have the most horrific impact on civilians, especially children, who often have their legs blown off.

Against that background, and the fact that Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, the ambassador should apologise to the Irish people and end what could be argued is unwarranted interference in our internal affairs by trying to pressure us to turn our backs on his country’s war crimes against the Ukrainian people. That is a very important point because the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls on all of us to vindicate the fundamental rights of people everywhere and he is calling on us de facto to deny our responsibility to our fellow human beings in Ukraine.

The hallmark of President Vladimir Putin’s military operations is the way in which civilians have been targeted, as in Syria, by bombing hospitals, schools, apartment blocks and every type of civilian infrastructure, in contravention of international law. Therefore to suggest Ireland should not become involved under Russian pressure in helping to protect civilians would be tantamount to making us complicit in Putin’s war crimes masquerading as war. – Yours, etc,

RONAN L TYNAN,