Russia's ambassador to Ireland has claimed the Taoiseach has 'sacrificed Irish interests' by meeting Ukraine’s president in Shannon Airport.
Speaking to Prime Time, Ambassador Yury Filatov, said: "It looks interesting to see how the Prime Minister makes these decisions in a way to sacrifice probably essential Irish interests [of] going to Belfast for an important meeting...in order to show support, for what we think is a failed issue, failed course of action and failed policy, a failed cause."
When asked what he meant by a "failed policy," Mr Filatov said "supporting the current regime."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin postponed meetings with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, as well as the leaders of the Alliance Party and the SDLP, to meet Mr Zelensky.
Referring to the war in Ukraine more generally, Mr Filatov said it was "a big mistake" on the part of the Irish government to "support the idea, the policy, of the Kyiv government to suppress Russians and to invite NATO."
In recent years, the Russian government has used a variety of concerns to try to justify its illegal invasion of Ukraine, including referencing plans for Ukrainian NATO membership and claims that Russian speakers in Ukraine faced aggressive discrimination.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also long held ideological ambitions of controlling Ukraine. He annexed Crimea in 2014, and has dismissed the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty.
In an address and essay months prior to launching the full-scale invasion, Mr Putin said expressly that Ukraine was ‘an artificial state,’ and that the people of Ukraine and Russia must be "united."
Mr Filatov, who previously worked in the Russian embassy in Washington DC, also spoke about talks between the US and Russia which have begun in recent weeks. He said that Russia would not consider withdrawing from occupied Ukrainian territory.
Asked whether Russia would allow European peacekeeping forces, including Irish troops, to monitor any potential ceasefire in Ukraine, Mr Filatov said: "I don’t think we would agree to that."
When asked about Ireland’s military neutrality, the ambassador said that in practice, Ireland was no longer neutral due to its cooperation with NATO and the European Union’s defence initiatives.
"As a principle, yes. But in fact, no matter what the government says, cooperation with NATO, with the EU defence arrangements, is going on," Mr Filatov said.
On the issue of Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Ireland, Mr Filatov was asked when they would be able to return home.
"I feel sorry for the people who are in a difficult conditions. It's not, it's not their fault," he said.
However, despite widespread evidence of Russian forces torturing and killing civilians and destroying cities – and carrying out massacres like the one in Bucha in 2022, where more than 400 people were killed - Mr Filatov deflected responsibility for those refugees away from Russia.
"The responsibility for the conflict and the whole crisis lies exactly with the Western governments, whether you like it or not," he said.
"And they [Ukrainians] know it perfectly well."
