James Cox
Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov will not be in attendance for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy's Oireachtas address tomorrow morning, after declining an invitation.
Mr Zelenskiy will address the Dáil and the Seanad at 10am on Wednesday, April 6th.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl invited all of the diplomatic representations based in Ireland to the event.
The Oireachtas said on Monday night 45 missions had indicated that their diplomats would attend Leinster House for the occasion, but the Russian Embassy was not one of them.
These addresses, via video link, have been made to countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany.
Mr Zelenskiy received a standing ovation after addressing the UK House of Commons in March.
Meanwhile, there has been a cry for help from the Russian Embassy in Ireland as it faces a fuel shortage.
Diplomats have complained that Irish oil companies have refused to deliver supplies to their Dublin property due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The embassy has become the focal point for Irish anger over the war raged by Vladimir Putin.
Ireland's dismissal of four Russian diplomats looks "paltry" compared to the response of other European Union states, according to a TD who has called for all diplomats at the Russian embassy to be expelled.
Neale Richmond told BreakingNews.ie: "Over the last 48 hours we've seen 150 Russian diplomats expelled from a range of EU member states including the Russian ambassador to Lithuania."
The Fine Gael TD added: "When I first raised the idea of the Russian ambassador [to Ireland] being expelled a number of weeks ago with the Tánaiste, they said they very much want to see this happening on an EU basis, and whilst it's very welcome we've expelled four diplomats so far it's beginning to look quite paltry compared to the response of other EU member states, and we need to act in this regard."
