By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – Ireland will expel a Russian diplomat in response to poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in England, a government statement said Tuesday.
Irish Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the Russian ambassador to Dublin has been informed about the decision and the “accreditation of a member of his staff with diplomatic status is to be terminated “.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
The attack in Salisbury was “an affront to the international rules-based system on which we all depend for our security and wellbeing, ” Coveney said.
Ireland became the 17th EU member state to have expelled a Russian diplomat.
Sixteen EU member states expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in an orchestrated reaction Monday.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on Monday the move came as a direct follow up to the European Council's decision last week.
“Additional measures including further expulsions are not to be excluded in the coming days and weeks, ” Tusk said.
With Ireland’s announcement, the number of expelled Russian diplomats from European countries has reached 73, including the previously expelled 23 Russians from the U.K. The number has exceeded 100 across the globe.
The countries that are to expel Russian diplomats along with the numbers are as follows: France (4), Germany (4), Poland (4), Czech Republic (3), Lithuania (3), Denmark (2), Italy (2), the Netherlands (2), Spain (2), Croatia (1), Romania (1), Estonia (1), Finland (1), Hungary (1), Latvia (1) and Sweden (1).
The European countries that are non-EU member states are as follows: Ukraine (13), Albania (2), Macedonia (1) and Norway (1).
The U.S. also expelled 60 diplomats and ordered the closure of Moscow’s consulate in Seattle. Canada will expel four Russian diplomats, while Australia will expel two, and may also boycott the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia.
The response to the Salisbury incident, which the U.K. described as “attempted murder” with a military-grade nerve agent, has become the largest ever diplomatic expulsion wave across the world.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the 2006 death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko after drinking radioactive tea. Former KGB bodyguards identified as suspects in the murder denied any involvement.
Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. Before the exchange, he was serving 13 years in prison for leaking information to British intelligence.
Russia missed a deadline by London to explain how a certain type of military-grade nerve agent was used in the attack.
“But their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events,” May said.
