Syria: Russian Redeployment and the Peace Process Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Lord Benyon
Main Page: Lord Benyon (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Benyon's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(8 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Hammond
Again, experience is the answer. I have not tried to make the call, and I am in no doubt that I could predict quite confidently the outcome of such a call to Foreign Minister Lavrov. I have had many conversations with him over the course of our regular meetings at Syria-related events, none of which has been fruitful.
Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con)
It is depressing to calculate the sum total of human misery that has resulted from Russia’s intervention in this bloody civil war, which has gone from vetoing attempts by countries to get an early resolution to Assad and a transition Government in place through to, as one non-governmental organisation put it to me, the bombing of a hospital four times by Russian planes. May I re-emphasise what my right hon. Friend says by asking him to treat with huge caution this move and to hold Russia responsible for any war crimes that it commits in the future?
Mr Hammond
My hon. Friend reminds us of an important fact. If somebody who has gone into another country, bombed civilian populations and destroyed hospitals and schools then decides, five months later, that they have done enough, let us not give them too much praise. It is a bit like that question, “Did he stop beating his wife?” The fact that the Russians are there in the first place is something that we must continually protest about, and we certainly should not give them any credit for simply withdrawing from those illegal activities.