Ukraine

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Wednesday 26th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his contribution, and recognise his great expertise in this area. I will most certainly take it back to make sure that people are aware of it.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, to follow up on the question from the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, two months after Stalin’s death, Churchill said in another place:

“I do not believe that the immense problem of reconciling the security of Russia with the freedom and safety of Western Europe is insoluble.”—[Official Report, Commons, 11/5/1953; col. 896.]


The fact is that Ukraine was a creation, as much as anything else, of Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, and it is a very odd country indeed. We started many of the problems that we now have when we chased Yanukovych out of office. In the Prime Minister’s Statement, he says we should

“address any legitimate Russian concerns through honest diplomacy.”—[Official Report, Commons, 25/1/21; col. 861.]

The problem is that what we regard as legitimate, they do not, so I should like to rephrase that and ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek to get together a conference, with everything on the table, to try to get some sort of agreement.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I said, the UK is committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we are providing a full range of support. There is no justification for Russia’s aggressive and destabilising activity towards Ukraine.