Following an investigation by OCCRP and its partners into how European parts are ending up used in Russian military drones attacking Ukraine, Ireland’s leader announced on Wednesday that his government would “pursue” the issue of Irish components ending up in Russian drones.
The Irish Times, one of OCCRP’s partners in the investigation, reported that Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the country’s parliament that there was no suggestion Ireland’s companies had engaged in anything illegal “but we will pursue this and we will follow this through and it is something concerning.”
“But obviously, the circumvention has been a feature in many areas of the war, in many aspects of supplies to Russia,” he added.
The investigation by OCCRP, Irish Times, De Tijd, The Kyiv Independent, Paper Trail Media/Der Standard, Infolibre and The Times found that despite European Union sanctions that prohibit direct exports to Russia, hundreds of components produced by European companies are still ending up in Russian drones.
The drones are being used by Russia’s military to cripple Ukraine’s energy grid, triggering a humanitarian crisis by exposing more than one million Ukrainians to weeks without power, water or heat in the winter.
The Irish Times reported he was responding to questions by Ireland’s Labour Party leader, Ivana Bacik, who said Irish components were being sold on and “appear in drones that are devastating Ukraine this winter,” and that 682 civilians had been killed by swarms of drones which were leaving people without power or water.
She then asked what the government was going to do to ensure components from the country did not end up in Russian weapons.
In answering her questions, Martin also noted that Ireland’s David O’Sullivan, former Secretary-General of the European Commission and current EU sanctions envoy, has been trying to deal with “circumvention of sanctions across the board.”