Belarus: Interception of Aircraft Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Clive Efford
Main Page: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham and Chislehurst)Department Debates - View all Clive Efford's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Dominic Raab
I thank my right hon. Friend, the Chair of the Defence Committee. I agree that we need to use every lever. I am not quite sure which specific one he thinks would be the decisive extra measure to bring Lukashenko to his senses, but I am very interested in continuing to talk to him about that. The reality is that Lukashenko becomes more and more reliant on Russia—I take the point that was made about that. We must not allow that to be a reason to ease up on the pressure, but we have to be realistic about how dug in Lukashenko is. We have ruled out nothing going forward. The most important thing is that we try to carry a broader group of international partners, and the reason that that is particular germane in this case is that the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Chicago convention represent an international public good.
Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab) [V]
I am delighted to hear the Foreign Secretary say that the Government will take a very tough response to this act of air piracy. Does the Foreign Secretary detect any sense of reticence from his counterparts in other countries in their response and any suggestion from them that we should take a softer approach to win round the Belarussian regime?
Dominic Raab
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support. There will always be different views across the European family and I would be a bit reluctant about advertising that to Minsk or Moscow, for obvious reasons. What I would say is that we are in the business of supporting some of the most vulnerable of our European partners. That is why I was out in Estonia to talk to the Baltic three and I went to Oslo to talk to the Nordic five. I invited all of them back to the UK, to be hosted at Chevening, because I think that the support that we provide to that periphery of the European neighbourhood is absolutely crucial to supporting fellow NATO and European allies and to the message that we send not just to Minsk and Moscow, but around the world, as hon. Members have said.