In today’s #vatnik soup, I’ll introduce an Irish writer and retired journalist, Eoin Ó Murchú (@Eomurchu). Ó Murchú is a devout communist and a contributor to

Front Page

(@tuairiscnuacht), a @ForasnaGaeilge funded Irish language website.

1/17

As you can guess, this self-described “professional journalist” (probably, “independent”, too) has spread more Russian narratives than TASS and RT combined. Usually you see people picking up the stories that fit their world view, but Eoin just went and picked them ALL.

2/17

Before the full-scale invasion, Ó Murchú was of course skeptical about Russia attacking Ukraine. He stated that the invasion wouldn’t have any purpose, and that the only way the war could start is by “US agents” conducting a false flag attack in Donbas and by stopping NS2.

3/17

Then we have the biolabs, or as Eoin put it, “the US funded biological warfare labs found in Ukraine”. He was also bummed that the Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster RTÉ didn’t find this worthy of reporting.

4/17

Let’s move on to Mariupol – On 11 Mar, 2022, Ó Murchú defended the Russian bombing of five (!) hospitals & simply copy-pasted the Russian lies about these war crimes. Apparently there were only “evil Azov Nazis” left, like the pregnant lady who was evacuated during the siege.5/17

It’s worth noting here that Russians and the al-Assad regime had a campaign (!) of hospital bombings, including a bombing of Tarmala Maternity and Children’s Hospital in South Idlib, so this has already become a kind of a trademark for the Russian military.

6/17

Of course he also denies any Russian genocidal activities. He quoted Lavrov on the Bucha massacre, stating that the mass murder was a “false provocation”. Then he did the same with Izium, claiming that Zelenskyy will “produce some bodies, like he did in Bucha”.

7/17

The bodies found in Izium had their genitals hacked off, they were tortured and many of the bodies had broken jaws and ribs and cracked skulls. Regarding Bucha, there is plenty of video and photo material supporting the fact that the Russians murdered civilians en masse.

8/17

And what was his reasoning for the Russian invasion? Of course the age-old lie that the Ukrainians shelled Donbas, killing 14, 000 people, mostly civilians. Read more about what actually happened here:

Genocide in Donbas

9/17

Then there’s the Kramatorsk railway station attack. Ó Murchú stated that the missile that was used was actually Ukrainian, referring to Scott Ritter’s report on the “AltWorld” blog. This was of course contradicted by the Amnesty and Conflict Intelligence Team reports, that…10/17

… said the Russian forces had used these missiles in multiple parts of Ukraine prior. After the strike, Russian media claimed they’d made a successful attack in Kramatorsk and denied the attack only after it became clear that there were a lot of civilian casualties.

11/17

He has said that “when the Ukrainians are expelled from the Donbas you will hear the voice of the people.” Ethnic Ukrainians made up over 57% of the population of the Donbas according to the last census before the start of the conflict in 2014.

12/17

In 1991, when Ukraine had their Independence Referendum, 83% of people from Donbas voted for it.

Ó Murchú writes a regular column for @tuairiscnuacht, and his column on 14 January 2023 was headlined “Beware the Ghost of Racism”.

13/17

He criticized recent anti-refugee protests in Ireland, stating that it is “shameful” that people were “shouting insults and threats” at refugees. This didn’t stop him from attacking @NadiaDobryanska, an actual Ukrainian refugee in Ireland.

14/17

He’s often talked about “Ukrainian Nazis”. According to Ó Murchú, “Slava Ukraini” is a “Nazi slogan” and Ukraine is under Nazi control. This type of rhetoric was also used by the Russian soldiers who killed innocent civilians in Bucha.

15/17

Some have speculated that Murchú is a contributor in the magazine The Phoenix (@ThePhoenixMag). All the articles in it are written anonymously, but its content about Ukraine is remarkably like Ó Murchú’s output, right down to his dislike of the 🇺🇦 refugee Nadia Dobryanska.

16/17

To conclude: there’s nothing new about Eoin Ó Murchú – he’s just an Irish copy of other pro-Russian communists you can find in most countries. But there’s just something icky about a person who spreads outright lies and calls themselves a “professional journalist”.

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Ping: @PatLeahyIT @fionnansheahan @harrymcgee @gavreilly