The Russian Ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov has defended his country’s decision to expel an Irish Ambassador from their territory.
In a week were both Ambassador’s for Ireland and Russia were expelled, Mr Filatov said Ireland should not be surprised by the expulsion as every action has a counter action.
Mr Filatov’s comments come less than a week after he was informed to leave Ireland following the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury England.
Although Ireland have reiterated that the decision was made by intelligence obtained by Irish security forces, the Russian Ambassador said he fully believes that Ireland’s actions along with the decision of other countries had nothing to do with the Salisbury attack, but instead it had something to do with some other bilaterally or multilaterally agenda.
Mr Filatov also said he hoped that the decisions by both countries to expel diplomats would not have a negat impact on relations between the two countries.