Russian diplomats expelled from Ireland ‘met with members of paramilitary groups’
April 5, 2022 2 Comments
FOUR RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS, WHO Ireland claims are undercover intelligence officers, met with Irish paramilitaries as part of a wider plan to “stoke political unrest” in Britain and Ireland, according to a new report. In a press conference held in Dublin last week, Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin announced that his government would expel four employees of the Russian Embassy there.
Martin did not provide details about the Russian diplomats, nor did he give their names. He said, however, that his administration had been provided with detailed information about the activities of the Russians by members of the National Crime and Security Intelligence Service of the An Garda Síochána (police service of the Republic of Ireland) and the Defence Intelligence Section of the Irish Armed Forces.
On Monday, an article by the London-based Times newspaper alleged that a major reason why Dublin decided to expel the Russian diplomats was their “efforts to cultivate contacts with dissident republicans and loyalist paramilitaries” in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland, which is British soil. The Russian diplomats began meeting dissident republicans under the pretext of attending lectures and presentations on Irish history in Dublin and elsewhere, The Times said.
According to the paper, the activities of the Russian diplomats were part of a wider campaign by Russian intelligence to “undermine confidence” in European institutions, by exploiting nationalist tensions stirred by Britain’s recent exit from the European Union. The effort is being led by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, which is widely known by its Cold War-era initials, GRU. The spy agency is in charge of a campaign to amplify the voices of republican and loyalist paramilitary groups on social media and other platforms, in order to undermine regional security, The Times said.
The paper added that at least one of the four expelled Russian diplomats is believed to be an intelligence officer for the GRU. IntelNews has discussed previously a number of concerns among Irish officials regarding the size of the Russian embassy in Dublin. Many believe that Moscow intends to turn its embassy in the Irish capital into a major espionage hub in Europe. In 2018, the Irish government denied a request by Moscow to expand its embassy complex by 86,000 sq ft.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 April 2022 | Permalink
intelNews.org 
Since Soviet Russian times, 1920s onwards, Soviet diplomats, sometimes via Middle Eastern terrorist cutouts, had a long history of providing money, then arms to Irish Republican paramilitaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republican_Army_(1922%E2%80%931969)#Post-Civil_War
Now Putin’s Russia seeks to draw off British Army and MI5 resources in order to perform anti-IRA internal security missions throughout the UK. These British Army and MI5 counter-intelligence resources would otherwise be performing NATO missions, principally against Russia, Russian “diplomats” and illegals.
Reblogged this on Intellicooking and commented:
FYI Ukraine and Russian war