Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that. However, the point is that I do not see that the roles of NATO and Russia are comparable. Some 130,000 troops amassed on the border is a fairly intimidating prospect for any country and it is not justified. There are security issues that Russia can justifiably seek assurances on and dialogue is the best way to do that. There are well-worn international mechanisms for such dialogue, particularly in respect of the overall security architecture in Europe. The amassing of such a large force is very worrying in terms of basic security, basic peace and the ability of a country like Ukraine to carry out its business for its citizens with self-determination and freedom and without that enormous pressure over them. I would welcome any moves to de-escalate. It should never have gotten to this stage. Perhaps the Deputy should talk to some of the Baltic countries, countries like Poland and other countries that feel they need a presence given their history. They do not feel secure and that is just the honest position. If you talk to people in many of the eastern bloc countries that became democratic and joined European Union, they are very fearful and feel vulnerable. We saw that only recently in Belarus, when the authoritarian Lukashenko regime orchestrated migrants from the Middle East and forced them over the borders into Lithuania and Poland in a brutal manner. There was brutal exploitation of migrants in order to undermine neighbours which were calling him out on the hijacking of a European plane in Belarusian airspace. This type of authoritarian behaviour is unacceptable. It needs to be called out-----

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