Ireland may have become a back door into the UK for Russian intelligence operatives. The reason behind it is the exploitation of Dublin's liberal visa policy and the lack of internal border controls within the Common Travel Area, The Telegraph reports.
Ireland is one of two EU member states outside the Schengen Area that have their own visa procedures. It belongs to the Common Travel Area, along with the UK, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, meaning that a Russian national who enters Ireland legally can cross to Britain.
Since Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Ireland has issued 14,000 visas to Russian citizens with a 90% approval rate, and British officials have warned Dublin about the volume, MEP Barry Andrews, a former Irish Minister for Children, says.
“Ireland doesn’t have the most sophisticated intelligence services compared to the UK. The UK is worried that Ireland is a back door,” he states.
Quite lot of evidence already on file
Andrews says there's "quite a lot of evidence of nefarious activities by Russia in Ireland.”
The warning fits into a broader pattern of Russian intelligence using third-country footholds against Britain. In May 2025, a UK court sentenced six Bulgarian nationals to up to 10 years each for running a Russian intelligence cell directed by ex-Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek, with substantial Telegram and cryptocurrency evidence presented at trial.
July EU presidency puts Ireland in crosshairs
Ireland assumes the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July, a role that "puts a target on your back," Andrews says. He calls on Irish immigration officers to step up screening of Russian and Belarusian applicants, including checking social media profiles and conducting in-person interviews, and urged a thorough review of the current visa-issuance process.
“Ireland is in the crosshairs and I think it’s the right time for us to have a proper X-ray of granting visas to Russians and Belarusians,” he states.
Broader European intelligence warning
Andrews's call comes alongside accelerating warnings from European intelligence services about Russian hybrid activity across the continent: three European intelligence agencies in February documented Russian operatives buying properties near military bases across the EU.
A 31 May BelPol investigation mapped more than 100 Belarusian KGB and GRU officers operating in 40 countries under diplomatic cover, with many of them also tasked by Russian intelligence.
