DUBLIN, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Russia will not conduct naval maneuvers next week in the Irish Sea at the request of the Irish government, which considered them inappropriate in the current context of tension around Ukraine, the government said on Saturday. Russian Ambassador Dublin.
Ireland had been informed last week that as part of naval maneuvers involving all Russian fleets, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, these military exercises would take place approximately 240 kilometers off its south-west coast, within its zone exclusive economy but outside its territorial waters, which is permitted by international law.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the plan was “unwelcome at a time of heightened military activity and tension”.
Russia, said its Dublin ambassador, Iouri Filatov, in a statement, decided to move these maneuvers as a “gesture of goodwill” vis–vis the government and Irish fishermen.
The latter had threatened to go fishing near the exercise area to show their displeasure. (Padraic Halpin report; French version Jean-Stphane Brosse)