International Developments: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ John Connolly (FF), Galway West I share the sentiment of many Members as to how depressing the situation the world finds itself in at the moment is. Having endured the depth of international conflict and war that was witnessed during the 20th century, we find that leaders of major international powers could make decisions that could bring us back to a point of significant tension again. This could undo the great work that was done by many of the institutions formed following the Second World War which have set about trying to maintain international law. Today I will use my time to raise with the Minister of State the circumstances one Irish citizen finds himself in as a result of the increasingly hostile international environment. Mr. Dmitry Simbaev is an Irish citizen who has been living here for in the region of 25 years. He resides in Claregalway, County Galway, and is a valued employee of PennEngineering there. Dmitry was visiting family in Russia last August when he was arrested and detained in a detention centre at Chelyabinsk in Russia. Since that time, his wife Daria has had no direct contact. His family in Russia has had only limited opportunity for updates on his well-being. Dmitry's wife believes his detention is due to her Ukrainian citizenship and the fact she made commentary on social media criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On his arrival in Russia, Dmitry's phone was taken by the Russian authorities. It is believed they encountered these messages or contributions by Daria on social media. Dmitry was arrested as a result and was charged. He is facing two charges in the Russian detention centre. One relates to online commentary and, I suppose, his propensity to ignite terrorism. I am no expert on Russian law, but the second charge is cited under Article 330.2 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation, which is that he has failed to file a timely notification about acquiring foreign citizenship or a residence permit. That essentially reads to me like he is being tried with gaining Irish citizenship and not informing the Russian Federation of that. We should take some offence to that. Obviously, there are many concerns about the situation, most notably the uncertainty about how long Dmitry will be in the detention centre, but also his treatment there. We have no sense of how he is being treated. I know that the Minister of State, through his good offices, previously got in touch with the Irish Embassy in Moscow on my behalf and some consular assistance is being provided to Dmitry's family, but we do not know how he is being treated. It is of great concern to Daria, his family and his many friends in Galway. I know that we do not enjoy a very positive relationship with the Russian Federation at the moment and there are strained relationships between the two nations, but we both maintain embassies in each other's country. I urge the Department, the Minister of State, the Minister and perhaps the Taoiseach to make some effort to raise the case of Dmitry with the appropriate authorities in Europe and Russia to try to make sure he is being well-treated and can come home. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-21