Support for Ukraine and Countering Threats from Russia

Debate between Alicia Kearns and Duncan Baker

Wednesday 2nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

It is a week since our world changed, and for eight nights children have worried in their beds and their bunkers about whether they will wake in the morning or lose their parents. Putin has placed the fate of his legacy on this invasion and that makes him dangerous, so we must focus on limiting the bloodshed however we can.

On the humanitarian situation, there is much worse to come. We must record and document war crimes and ensure that we finally have an atrocity prevention strategy in place across every war zone and conflict zone. We must plan for the use of chemical, incendiary and thermobaric weapons and have meaningful repercussions in place should they be used. There is a lot of discussion at the moment of a humanitarian corridor, but I am afraid I do not support these because they only work when all sides agree and we cannot trust the Russians. Small corridors are insufficient in a nation this size to get the aid that is needed through, and ultimately these corridors become political footballs with much political energy wasted on them. One example of that is the Aleppo enclave.

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is somewhat of an expert on foreign affairs. Is she finding that there is an outpouring in Rutland and Melton of constituents wanting to support the humanitarian effort and lend their help to refugees trying to flee Ukraine?

[Alicia Kearns]

My constituents are definitely determined to help people and they can do that best through financial donations. The Ukrainians have been clear with me that they fear that clothes, food and medicine could be laced with all sorts of appalling weapons; we have to make sure we offer what they ask for, which is financial donations.

Humanitarian corridors become political footballs. There are no examples of where they have worked in the world, and the UN Security Council more often than not has to approve every single aid delivery. We have to make sure aid gets to where it is needed. However, there is a problem when our sanctions regime is stopping the effective delivery of humanitarian aid. We need a humanitarian exemption like that agreed through UN resolution 2615 (2021) in December, which the US has also passed domestically, because currently humanitarian aid organisations are unable to negotiate with sanctioned entities. We may not like it, but they have to engage with all parties to ensure aid can reach those who need it, so I urge the Government to pass a similar motion to that which the US and the UN passed on the Afghanistan debacle to make sure we get what we need so that aid can get to everyone in Ukraine.

We also need to make sure the UK holds a donor conference, as we did on Syria in 2016, to bring in the funds needed from around the world. I also urge the Government to make sure we have balloons ready and waiting to go up to keep the internet on in Ukraine, because there is no question but that the Russians will at some point decide that they have truly lost the information war and they will switch off the internet; we have the capabilities to keep it switched on.

On sanctions, I welcome what the Government have done particularly on the Russian central bank, which was a true economic strike. I also know that it is due to the British Government that Russian access to SWIFT has been banned across the world, and it was the Prime Minister who made sure in G7 calls that that happened when others were reluctant.

But now we need to go further. Secondary sanctions are required on those cynically filling the gaps made by the sanctions we put in place. We also need to sanction Shoigu and the military generals and chief of staff Gerasimov, and to use our family of overseas territories, which can help us because they hold information on these shell companies and are willing to play their part. We also need to impose restrictions on rouble clearing, and the No. 10 business group should work to make sure it is not just the oil companies that stop working there; we need retail and consumer companies also to pull out of Russia now.

On the military effort, I welcome the fact that since November we have been planning and arming our friends. We now need more air defence systems. We also need to launch deniable cyber-attacks against the Russian Government if we do not see them pull back and we see chemical weapons used in any form. We should also look at defection offers and rewards, which of course should be deniable as well.

I turn briefly to the nuclear threat that Putin has made. It is a sign of weakness. It is a sign of the importance of Ukraine to him, the impact of the measures that we have put in place and the unity of our alliances. However, unfortunately, we must take the threat seriously.

On information operations, we have done an incredible job. The UK has led on this internationally, exposing the reality of what is happening on the ground and the false flags. I pay tribute to Bellingcat and the Centre for Information Resilience, which have done incredible work. We must deny Russia plausible deniability and ensure that future prosecutions can take place. We must also amplify unease and protest within Russia and amplify the costs of its actions.

On diplomatic measures, yes, Putin has united us, but we must ensure that that does not push him closer to China. We must also expel Russian spies. The peace talks are a charade. There has been no ceasefire. When I worked on Syria, we saw exactly the same ridiculous measures, and they made no meaningful contribution.

This is one man’s invasion, and one man is responsible. The bravery of the people of Ukraine is something of which songs will be sung for many years to come. In the Ukrainian national anthem, it says:

“The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet died”,

and it must not. Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava!