THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR to Ireland has criticised Defence and Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee for what he called a Leinster House “obsession” regarding the “Russian threat”.

Yuriy Filatov’s comments follow McEntee telling The Journal at the Munich Security Conference last week that Government is considering boarding and inspecting the Russian Shadow Fleet oil-smuggling ships that pass through the seas off Ireland.

The Shadow Fleet is a group of approximately 500 named vessels used by Russia to smuggle oil and gas in breach of sanctions. 

Today, Filatov rubbished the idea of a threat from Russia, which he said was a pretext for Government desire for the militarisation of Ireland and greater engagement with Nato.

“The idea of the ‘Russian threat’ to Ireland and ‘everybody else’ is not only gaining traction with the Irish government, it is already something of an obsession at the Leinster House,” he said in remarks attributed to him by the X account of the Russian Embassy in Ireland.

“Russia has never threatened Ireland and its people – to claim the opposite would be wrong and misleading.

“Secondly, it is of course the sovereign right of Ireland to formulate its security and defence policy, but at the same time it would seem obvious that decisions in that area should not be based on false assumptions,” Filatov said.

McEntee was asked yesterday on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland about her comments in The Journal, where she repeated that the matter of boarding the Russian ships is under consideration.

Filatov said: “That is indeed remarkable, unprecedented and unacceptable – the Irish cabinet minister threatening Russian civilian ships with the illegal hostile actions which, one would hope, she knows is an act of piracy under international maritime law with the most serious consequences.

“Now, that is the real reason for the Irish public to be worried. The Irish government should really reflect on where such reckless and thoughtless line could lead.”

The ships are listed in sanctions imposed on the Russian regime since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. France and Italy have boarded and seized oil tankers. The US has also seized vessels in the wake of its attack on Venezuela. 

McEntee said that she does not believe seizure of the ships is likely.