Russian diplomat Viktor Lipassov and his wife Evdokia leave from Shannon Airport having been expelled from Ireland.
On 9 September 1983 the Irish government took the decision to expel three Soviet diplomats from Ireland for alleged espionage activities. First secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Dublin Guennadi Saline, Viktor Lipassov, second secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Dublin along with his wife Evdokia are ordered to leave the country by 14 September 1983.
Guennadi Saline is already in the Soviet Union on home leave and will not be returning to Ireland. Viktor and Evdokia Lipassov are added to the passenger list for a scheduled Aeroflot flight to Moscow from Shannon Airport.
After four years in Ireland Viktor Lipassov says he has no idea why he is being expelled as he did not break any Irish laws,
I think it was a political decision and nothing else behind that.
He refuses to speculate any further but believes the spying claims made against his wife are ridiculous as,
She doesn't speak English, she doesn’t drive a car.
The allegations that his wife travelled to Belfast and England are also completely untrue.
Viktor Lipassov describes himself as a diplomat stationed in Ireland to collect political information.
The same I believe Irish diplomats do in Moscow.
However his main business at the embassy was issuing visas. He firmly states that he did not have a single contact in Northern Ireland.
I have never been to Belfast or Northern Ireland contrary to all allegations in the press.
There is tight security at Shannon Airport as the Lippassovs wait for their flight to Moscow. They are escorted from a private room of the duty free shop of Shannon Airport and accompanied through departures to the waiting Aeroflot plane.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 14 September 1983. The reporter is Michael Walsh.
