Government to call in Russian ambassador after Taoiseach and more than 50 other Irish officials are banned from entering country

The Government is to call in the Russian ambassador to give him its response “in no uncertain terms” to the imposition by Russia of sanctions on senior politicians over support for Ukraine, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Mr Coveney both renewed their condemnation of Russia after it emerged that the Kremlin has put them and 50 other individuals including other politicians on a list of people banned from entering the country.

Ireland has strongly backed European Union sanctions against Russia and has sent non-lethal military aid to Ukraine.

A statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that 52 “key representatives of the leadership and politicians of Ireland” have been put on Russia’s “stop list”.

It said the move is “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”.

Mr Martin is named in the statement as no longer allowed to enter the Russian Federation as are Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Mr Coveney, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.

It said a number of TDs and Senators are also banned from entry to Russia.

[ Miriam Lord: It’s the most elite list in town, but who’s made it on to the Kremlin’s naughty steppe? ]

The Irish Government do not yet have the full list of 52 individuals subject to the ban on travelling to Russia.

Mr Coveney said that Ireland would continue to maintain its current position to oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine “regardless of sanctions or the threat of ,sanctions against us”.

Speaking on a visit to Washington on Wednesday the Minister said Ireland had taken its stance to back Ukraine following the invasion of the country by Russian forces “on the basis of a respect for international law and the UN charter”.

Mr Coveney told The Irish Times: “We wish this war was not happening.

“We do not want to be picking a fight with Russia but we have to call out in truthful terms what we see and what the evidence backs up - aggression, likely war crimes and the destabilisation of peace on the continent of Europe by a deliberate invasion of a European country by Russia.”

The Minister said the Government had not been given any advance notification of the bans on entering Russia imposed by Moscow on the Taoiseach and other senior political figures, including himself. “It just happened overnight”, he said.

Mr Coveney said Ireland had supported the imposition of severe sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine “so we probably should not be surprised” at its actions on Wednesday.

“I believe we are on the right side of history and we will hold our position regardless of sanctions or threats of sanctions against us.”

Mr Coveney said he would make no apologies for Ireland not being neutral on this conflict in Ukraine.

“The aggression and brutality we are seeing wrought on the Ukrainian population and civilians in particular is something we cannot be neutral on.

“If we were to be neutral on this we would effectively be taking the side of the oppressor and I am not willing to do that.”

The Minister said the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs would be calling in the Russian ambassador to Ireland “to let him know about our views in no uncertain terms”.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that "cool heads are required" after he and 52 other Irish politicians and diplomats were banned from entering Russia. (Oireachtas TV)

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs are in contact with the Russian authorities to seek immediate clarification.”

The Russian embassy in Dublin would not immediately provide a full list of the 52 Government leaders and politicians who have banned from entering Russia.

“We are going to provide the necessary comment in due course,” Nikita Isakin, press secretary ad PA to the Russian ambassador Yuriy Filatov, said when contacted by The Irish Times.

The Russian ministry, in its statement, said: “Acting under the dictation of Brussels, Ireland is conducting an aggressive anti-Russian propaganda campaign, a course has been taken to curtail bilateral co-operation 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,” it says.

Taoiseach ‘unaware’ of sanctions

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, the Taoiseach said he was unaware he had been sanctioned by Russia after Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond raised the matter.

Mr Richmond repeated his call for the Russian embassy to be closed down and the ambassador expelled.

Mr Martin said he wanted to “thank the deputy for alerting me to this news that I’m sanctioned. It’s a new development. I don’t think I’ve ever been sanctioned before”.

The Taoiseach said it was part of the “propaganda war waged by Russia”. He added: “We all have to stand together across Europe on this.

“Diplomatic channels are the last resort always. Diplomacy matters in the end of the day no matter how unpalatable it can be at certain times. So I think cool heads are always required in situations like this.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “I’m not sure if I’ve ever been sanctioned by a government before. But you know, I know the reason why it is and that’s because I’m a member of a government and a citizen of a country that is standing four-square behind Ukraine.

“I don’t think anyone who has seen the events of the last couple of days when millions of people in Ukraine have been plunged into darkness and plunged into cold can have any doubt about which country is on the right side here and which country is in the wrong.”

Asked if the Government should react by expelling the Russian ambassador and breaking off diplomatic relations, Mr Varadkar said that Ireland was already taking a range of actions against Russia.

“And yet throughout that we have maintained diplomatic relations, even countries that are at war with each other maintain diplomatic relations. So I think we need to consider that very carefully.”

Neutrality debate

Meanwhile, in the Dáil on Wednesday, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett claimed the Russian ban on Irish politicians effectively showed Ireland was not neutral but a “protagonist in the war”, which the Taoiseach described as an “outrageous assertion”.

The Dun Laoghaire TD also claimed that the State’s “echoing of the Nato line” were “endangering the Irish Defence Forces”.

Mr Boyd Barrett and Mr Martin have repeatedly clashed on the issue of Irish neutrality in relation to the war in Ukraine.

The Taoiseach said he was “disturbed” by Mr Boyd Barrett’s comments and he had “effectively justified that Putin had sanctioned my good self and others”.

Mr Boyd Barrett said, however, “we are now seen as protagonists”.

The Taoiseach replied that “we are seen by Putin as protagonists and you are sort of saying he is right and I should be worried because Putin sanctioned me.”

The Taoiseach said this was “an outrageous assertion” and “I think you should withdraw any implication that Putin sanctioning the Taoiseach of the day in this country is somehow confirmation that Ireland is not neutral.”

The Dun Laoghaire TD said “I am saying the Taoiseach is now a protagonist in war”, adding that Ireland is training Ukrainian military, in relation to offers to assist with de-mining.

Mr Martin insisted however: “We are militarily neutral. We are not protagonists in this war.”

On Tuesday, Russia accused the Government of “moving to virtually erode a constitutional ban on involving the state in military affairs”.

The move to end neutrality is “actually part of Washington and London’s efforts to consolidate the Western block along military lines”, its Foreign Affairs ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

She claimed that Ireland was sacrificing “bilateral relations with Russia” while being “cheered on by its British neighbour”.

She continued: “The Irish side is consistently destroying the entire range of bilateral political, economic and cultural ties, and it is hampering the normal operation of the Russian Embassy in Dublin and blocking mutual trips and contacts under a far-fetched pretext .

Ms Zakharova maintained there is a “heated debate in Ireland” regarding the country’s military neutrality in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.

She noted the “opposition is criticizing the government for its decision to involve Ireland in the European Union’s combat training mission to train service personnel for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

This may be a reference to a Dáil debate in recent weeks in which People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy criticised the news that Ireland would be participating in an EU demining training mission for Ukraine soldiers this month.

Mr Murphy said: “It is very clear that this is the next step in the Government’s determined effort to involve Ireland in European and eventually NATO military undertakings.”

Ms Zakharova concluded: “This initiative was called another official step to draw Dublin into EU and subsequently Nato military activity that in the long run would completely demolish the idea of Ireland’s traditional military neutrality.”