LONDON, March 24. /TASS/. Military cooperation between Ireland and the UK with the goal of countering Russia has the potential to destabilize the North Atlantic region, a factor Moscow will take into account in its military planning, Russian Ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov told TASS, commenting on the joint statement adopted following the recent British-Irish summit.

On March 13, the prime ministers of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Micheal Martin and Keir Starmer, issued a statement announcing, among other things, their agreement to expand intelligence sharing and coordinate defense planning in order to "better detect, deter and respond to threats across the Irish Sea and North-East Atlantic."

"These agreements between Ireland and the UK will undoubtedly further destabilize the North Atlantic region. The Irish should not expect anything good from this, since as these agreements are implemented, they will naturally be taken into account in our military planning, and we will draw the relevant conclusions," the head of the diplomatic mission said.

"Ireland can hardly expect increased security through confrontation with Russia," Filatov warned.

"Such cooperation has been ongoing for a long time, but now they are talking about establishing a legal framework, eliminating any unclear gray zones, and putting everything on track so that all details related to the passage of Russian ships, both civilian and naval, will be closely monitored and tracked," the diplomat said. He noted that this is being presented "as a joint contribution by Ireland and the United Kingdom to strengthening European and Euro-Atlantic security." "I cannot agree with that. I do not believe that you can strengthen your own security by compromising or undermining the security of another," Filatov said.

The ambassador noted that although the text adopted following the summit mentions Russia only once, "all public comments from Dublin and London leave no doubt that they are seeking to improve mechanisms for cooperation between Ireland and the United Kingdom specifically to counter Russia and the so-called Russian threat." "They see it both here and in London - as a threat to maritime communications, undersea cables, and some kind of constant espionage – a complete disaster and utter horror," the diplomat added with irony.