Ireland says Russian war games off its coast 'not welcome'

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Monday that Russia plans to holds war games off his country's coast, in a move that is not welcome given heightened tensions and uncertainty over whether Moscow plans to invade Ukraine.

Coveney told reporters that the exercises are due to take place 240 km (150 miles) off Ireland's southwest coast, in international waters but also within the country's exclusive economic zone.

"We don't have the power to prevent this happening but certainly I've made it clear to the Russian ambassador in Ireland that it's not welcome," Coveney said, as he arrived for talks focused on Russia and Ukraine with his EU counterparts in Brussels.

"This isn't a time to increase military activity and tension in the context of what's happening with and in Ukraine," he said.

He acknowledged that Russia can hold war games in international waters, "but the fact that they are choosing to do it on the western borders, if you like, of the EU, off the Irish coast, is something that in our view is simply not welcome and not wanted right now, particularly in the coming weeks."