PROTESTERS GATHERED OUTSIDE the Russian embassy in Dublin again this afternoon to demand the expulsion of the country’s ambassador.
Carrying placards, protesters joined in chants of “Ambassador Filatov, out, out, out”.
It marks the third day of demonstrations outside the embassy since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
Labour TD Ivana Bacik was among speakers at the protest, while earlier today, Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan, chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, joined calls to expel the ambassador.
“Expelling the Russian Ambassador is a display of the revulsion of the Irish people towards Russia,” Flanagan said, speaking on Newstalk FM.
Protesters also gathered today outside the GPO in the city centre.
Later today, advocacy group Irish Families Through Surrogacy is holding a candlelight vigil outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Ballsbridge at 5pm.
“We are standing with Ukraine with Senator Mary Seery Kearney and the wider Ukrainian community in Dublin,” IFTS said.
The Russian ambassador to Ireland, Yuri Filatov, appeared on RTÉ Six One News yesterday evening where he was questioned on why he should be allowed to stay in the country as Russia invades Ukraine.
“You might ask your Government, it’s up to them. I can leave any time,” Filatov said.
Government leaders have indicated that a move like expelling the ambassador would be made at an EU level alongside other member states.
The EU’s sanctions against Russia have targeted the country’s finances by blocking its access to global markets, as well as prohibiting the sale, supply, transfer or export to Russia of specific goods and technologies in oil refining to hit its lucrative oil sector.
The EU has also introduced an export ban on goods and tech in the aviation and space industry, as well as a ban on the sale of aircraft, spare parts and equipment to Russian airlines.
President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov are being personally sanctioned by the EU through the freezing of their European assets.
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