Ireland is “hostile to Russia and everything Russian,” Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov has told a Russian state-owned television station.
Mr Filatov accused the country of being to the forefront of “anti-Russian events” in the European Union. He said protesters had been “really aggressive” at the country’s embassy in Dublin and said some Russian children faced bullying.
The situation in Ireland is “frankly difficult,” he said, blaming the media for portraying an “absolutely tendentious picture” of the Ukraine invasion.
A copy of the interview with Russia 24 was sent to Russian citizen Masha Vasilieva, who has been living in Ireland for the last nine years.
She posted a translated version on YouTube, according to a report in The Irish Times, which said her translation has been verified.
Russian children bullied
Asked at the beginning of the interview if there is a threat to Russian diplomats and citizens in Ireland, Mr Filatov responded: “The situation is, frankly, difficult.”
“Naturally, the general political situation is simply hostile towards Russia and everything Russian. A very negative role of course is being played by mass media that shows [an] absolutely tendentious picture of the events happening in Ukraine at the political level,” he continued.
“Ireland is in the forefront in the European Union and wider, with regards to various anti-Russian events. In this regard, it is probably hardly possible to talk now about any relations between Russia and Ireland. We are mainly supporting a channel of communication with the Irish.”
Mr Filatov said that “maybe they will stop going crazy in the West” and come to understand “reality”.
“But for now we are dealing with what we have. The embassy is now in the extreme tension. We are registering constant threats against employees of the embassy that we are receiving via e-mail and phone calls,” he continued.
Mr Filatov said protests outside the embassy had been “quite often very rough and violent.”
“We are solving [these] issues with the police, with the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In general we would want more, but at least for now we have police presence, which we could use,” he said.
The ambassador said Russian citizens in Ireland are receiving “threats of reprisal” and reported cases of bullying of Russian children in Irish schools.
“Unfortunately, there are cases of bullying and this is very sad, because in general, in my opinion, [the] Irish are kind and responsive, but sometimes when they absolutely don't understand the situation, they take sides without any analysis and they act based on it. This is influencing our kids unfortunately, who are studying here.”
Mr Filatov reported that gardaí are responding “adequately” to threats towards Russian citizens, when asked by the interviewer if they were brushing them aside.
The interview comes amid calls for Mr Filatov and other staff at the Russian embassy in Ireland to be expelled from the country. However, Ministers have said lines of communications with Russia must be kept open.
Another interview, which Mr Filatov gave to RTÉ News presenter David McCullagh justifying the Ukraine invasion, has gone viral internationally. It has been viewed more than 6.4 million times.
