Ireland has asked a Russian diplomat to leave the country after a police investigation showed that Russia's intelligence services had forged Irish passports for use by a US-based spy ring. "The activities of Russian intelligence services in connection with the forgery of Irish passports and the effective theft of the identity of six Irish citizens are completely unacceptable," Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The department's secretary general told the Russian ambassador in Dublin that the accreditation of one of his staff had been terminated and the diplomat has been asked to leave Ireland by a specified date. "The government, by today's action, has once again made clear that it will not tolerate the fabrication and use of forged Irish passports by agents of a foreign state," it said.