Russia's embassy in Dublin accuses Tánaiste of spreading 'anti-Russian propaganda'

Simon Harris had condemned 'ongoing and escalating' Russian attacks on Ukraine, stating that 'these are attacks against civilians'

Tánaiste, then taoiseach, Simon Harris inspect buildings damaged by Russian shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine, last September. Today, Thursday, Mr Harris condemned 'ongoing and escalating' Russian attacks. File picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Russian embassy in Ireland has accused Tánaiste and the Irish Government of spreading "anti-Russian propaganda" about recent Russian attacks in Ukraine.

In a statement issued on Thursday morning, Simon Harris condemned the "ongoing and escalating" Russian attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine. 

His statement followed days of heavy drone bombardment of Ukraine by Russia.

Noting that Russia had launched more than 2,000 drone and missile attacks throughout Ukraine since the beginning of the month, Mr Harris accused the Russian military of targeting "medical facilities, including a maternity hospital" as well as "first responders seeking to save lives". He said: 

These attacks have targeted Ukraine’s towns and cities, people’s homes and places of work, and Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. We should be clear that these are attacks against civilians. 

"I condemn them completely, as I do Russia’s ongoing war of aggression."

Mr Harris also stated that Ireland's solidarity with Ukraine "remains steadfast".

"Russia started this war. As the aggressor, it is for Russia to demonstrate a genuine commitment towards peace by halting its brutal attacks," he added.

"It can do so at any time. It is past time for Russia to agree to a full, unconditional ceasefire as a first step towards arriving at a just and lasting peace."

In a lengthy response on Thursday afternoon, the Russian embassy in Dublin called Mr Harris's statement "pathetic", claiming it was "yet another example of anti-Russian propaganda by the Irish government, which distorts reality and misleads the public".

The embassy said Mr Harris had neglected to mention what it described as "large-scale terrorist attacks" by Ukrainian special services on "passenger and civilian freight trains in Bryansk and Kursk regions of Russia with large number of killed and wounded".

The embassy said that recent "retribution" strikes by Russian armed forces across Ukraine were launched in response to these "heinous crimes". 

The embassy also stated that these attacks were not against civilians, but against a "large number of military targets" in Ukraine, including "aviation, missile, armor and shipbuilding industry enterprises" in Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, as well as command posts, military airfields, ammunition and fuel depots, and other "deployment sites" of the Ukrainian army.

The embassy said Mr Harris's questioning of Russia’s commitment to "peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis" was "misplaced and dishonest"

"He should know that Russia had been consistently proposing political and diplomatic ways to avoid conflict in 2014, 2021, and 2022, which have been as well consistently ignored by the Western governments, including Ireland, since their plan has always been not peace in Ukraine but imposition of war on Ukrainian and Russian peoples," the embassy statement added.

The Irish Examiner has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs for a response to the Russian embassy's statement.