Quote (ferdia @ Nov 16 2022 03:42pm)
Russia has banned entry to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and more than 50 other top officials, in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine. Among those listed are Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, as well as a number of other key officials and politicians. The Russian foreign ministry said the measures against the 52 figures were taken following Ireland's support of EU sanctions against Russia.
"Acting under orders from Brussels, Ireland is conducting an aggressive anti-Russian propaganda campaign," said a foreign ministry statement.
The statement said Ireland has been seeking to curtail bilateral cooperation with Moscow. Russia also demanded an apology in March after a man drove a truck through the gates of its Dublin embassy to protest against the war. Western capitals have slapped Russia with a slew of unprecedented sanctions over its offensive in pro-Western Ukraine. A statement from Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "In response to the anti-Russian course of the Irish Government, which unconditionally supports the unilateral restrictive measures introduced by the European Union against Russian citizens aimed at attempts to isolate our country internationally, a decision was made to include 52 key representatives of the leadership and politicians of Ireland in the Russian "stop list".
"The list of Irish citizens who are no longer allowed to enter the Russian Federation includes, in particular, Prime Minister M Martin, his deputy L Varadkar, Chairman of the Dáil (lower house of parliament) S Ó Fearghaíl, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence S Coveney, Minister of Justice H McEntee, Minister of Finance P Donohoe, as well as a number of senators and deputies of the lower house of parliament.
"Acting under the dictation of Brussels, Ireland is conducting an aggressive anti-Russian propaganda campaign, a course has been taken to curtail bilateral cooperation to the detriment of its own interests.
"One of the consequences of fueling Russophobic hysteria in Irish society was the attack on the Russian Embassy in Dublin in March of this year.
"With regard to our other measures, we will be guided by the position of Dublin."
The Taoiseach told the Dáil that the news that he is being sanctioned by Russia "is a new development", adding: "I don't think I've ever been sanctioned before." Mr Martin thanked Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond for "alerting" him to the fact, which he said was part of a "broader propaganda war being waged by Russia". Mr Richmond said Russia's move was "absolutely disgraceful" and called for the closure of the Russian embassy with its "so-called diplomats". "I think cool heads are always required in situations like this," Mr Martin added.
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This was expected. Russia is ever tit for tat, and they are not wrong: from a diplomatic standpoint an apology for the attack on their embassy in Ireland should have been forthcoming and Ireland is part of a western block that is waging a propaganda war against Russia, and finally we, along with many western countries are not acting neutral in this conflict. We send them aid, we send them weapons, we give training. To my mind we would have been on much firmer ground from an ethical stand point if we approached the issue from a neutral standpoint, acknowledged how and why this war started, condemned the invasion but not sanctioned anyone in ireland or elsewhere that sought peace, and we should have been critical to our western allies who continue to finance the war rather then seek ways to end it.
It boggles the mind how the narrative is "Russia has weaponised food and energy" when it was the western block (us) that imposed sanctions in the first place. Russia is ever tit for tat yet the spin is they started all this. I deplore what Russia is doing in Ukraine yet I see no cool head on our side of the fence trying to resolve this, instead its "here is more weapons, go get them".
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Does anyone have an update on Nord Stream ? Who bombed it, was it space aliens?
was Ukraine dolphin kamikaze