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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
David Kent

Simon Coveney blasts back at Russian foreign Minister after Ireland analogy used to defend invasion

Simon Coveney has blasted the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov for comments he made in relation to Ireland.

In a press conference on Friday morning, Mr Lavrov fielded questions from reporters, one of them was related to the potential banning of the Russian language in Ukraine.

Mr Lavrov responded: "For example if in Ireland they prohibited the English language, what would the UK think about it? I can't imagine that a law like that would last for more than a couple of days."

Now, his Irish counterpart, Minister Coveney, has hit back at his comments.

The Fine Gael deputy leader tweeted: "Don’t bring Ireland into an argument trying to justify and unjustifiable war. Ireland/U.K. are an example of how two countries, with a difficult past, found a way to shape and sustain a peace process, guaranteeing an absence of violence."

Mr Lavrov had ignored some questions during the press conference about the justification for the Russian invasion, but his Ireland analogy came as he claimed Russian speakers were being discriminated against in Ukraine.

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