Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the ambassador and his colleagues to the committee. We are not here to demonise the Russian Federation. It was a term he used himself and he said that the Russian people are grieving for those who lost their lives in this conflict. The loss of life is a concern to all of us. Why was Russia not represented at the Budapest Memorandum talks last week? The US, EU and Ukraine were the only participants in these talks. It goes without saying that proper respect should be shown to the Ukraine's substantial Russian-speaking population. The ambassador claimed the crisis has been created artificially.

If it is an artificial crisis, the reaction has been extremely severe, to say the very least. It appears to us that Russian-backed forces are in full control of Crimea. A one-sided and clearly illegitimate referendum is about to be held over the next number of days. Has this crisis been created and exacerbated by a mindset that Russia has the right to control the destiny of a state that used to be part of the Soviet Union?

It has been clear for some time that it is the wish of the strong majority of the Ukrainian people to be part of the European democratic mainstream. There was an extreme reaction when the association agreement had been progressed between the EU and the Ukrainian Government. One of the narratives we have heard over the past weeks is that Russia was acting to defend Russian civilians being suppressed by Kiev. In the coverage we read and see in our media, the only people we have seen being beaten off the streets in the last number of weeks were Russians protesting against their Government in Moscow and some Ukrainians supporting their Government in Sevastopol. That type of activity is unacceptable. Another clear message put out by the Russian Government was that the Russian troops were classed as self-defence volunteers. It is strange that the uniforms and vehicles with military numberplates had all the trappings of belonging to Russian troops.

If right is so much on Russia's side, why the efforts to stop the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, from entering Crimea? As we all know, the OSCE is directly charged with monitoring situations quickly. Its attempts to enter Crimea were stopped. The OSCE monitoring team included a colonel of the Irish Army. Warning shots were fired at that convoy. Why are there 30,000 Russian soldiers in Crimea compared to the 11,000 usually stationed there with Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol? Can the ambassador comment on reports that the Russian Parliament is preparing legislation to make it easier to annex parts of other countries? I repeat my thanks for the ambassador's attendance and I am sure he will be glad to deal with the questions that are posed by the committee.