Baroness Meacher
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Ukraine
Baroness Meacher Excerpts(2 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I have seen some of the details which have been coming out but, as I said earlier, we have not reached a point where such detailed discussions take place. Of course we have noted some of the points that have been raised. As I said earlier, we will support Ukraine in ensuring that any decision on any negotiation is led and agreed by it.
Baroness Meacher (CB)
My Lords, we are having a very polite debate this afternoon. It does not feel as though we are right on the edge of a third world war. Mr Putin is extremely dangerous. He is not used to failure; he is not used to weakness. He does not represent the people of Russia. I worked in a Russian ministry for several years in the 1990s. Those people all want to join the West, but NATO rejected Russia, rejected Gorbachev, rejected Yeltsin and, in the early days, even rejected Putin’s requests—“Come on, let’s be partners. Let’s consider getting into a partnership within NATO.” It all sounds a bit fanciful now. Putin is there; we have to look ahead. Will the Minister take back the point that if we leave this to Ukraine, Russia will tear it apart, literally, limb from limb? NATO bears some responsibility for what is going on. Will the Minister consider that and talk about it with his colleagues?