Ireland expels four Russian embassy officials: "Their activities are not in accordance with the standards of diplomatic behaviour"

Ireland is expelling four “senior officials” from the Russian Embassy, with the government saying their actions are not in accordance with the standards of diplomatic behaviour.

Russian Ambassador Yury Filatov is not among those being expelled but the Department of Foreign Affairs has said he was summoned to the department today and informed officially of the decision.

"This afternoon, the Department of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian Ambassador to Iveagh House to advise him that four senior officials have been asked to leave the State," a statement from the department released today reads. "This is because their activities have not been in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behaviour. This action is being taken under Article 9 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

“The Government continues to believe that diplomatic channels between Ireland and the Russian Federation should remain open. This is in the interests of our citizens as well as to ensure that we can continue to have a diplomatic channel of communication between Ireland and the Russian Federation in the future.”

“This channel of communication has been important in the context of conveying our strong views on the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, which we regard as a serious breach of international law.”

The sprawling complex on Orwell Road in south Dublin has been used as a major base for Russian intelligence for years, particularly in the area of communications interceptions, the Irish Times has reported. A significant proportion of the Garda’s Security and Intelligence unit monitors suspected Russian intelligence agents operating out of the embassy.

There have been increasing calls over the last week, including from Government TDs, for the expulsion of the ambassador, Yury Filatov, in the wake of his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last month, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the ambassador’s residence shouting “expel Russian spies” and “Filatov out”.

In 2015, Russia announced plans to vastly expand its Dublin embassy, which caused alarm in Irish security circles who feared the expansion of Russian intelligence operations.

In 2018, the Government passed legislation allowing it to block planning applications on national security grounds. In April 2020, then minister for housing Eoghan Murphy used this legislation to block much of the planned expansion on the basis that it was “likely to be harmful to the security and defence of the State and the State’s relations with other states”.