Russia: Alexei Navalny Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Lord Cormack
Main Page: Lord Cormack (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Cormack's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(3 years ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I agree. Further, I agree with the great, respected and revered Winston Churchill.
Lord Cormack (Con)
My Lords, following the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Walney, when he asked his Question, why do we not take sanctions against a given number of people every week until Navalny is released from his appalling jail? Although we know that the Russians veto things at the Security Council, that is no reason for not having an internationally publicised debate on this issue.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, on my noble friend’s second point, we are doing just that, if not necessarily at the UN Security Council. I mentioned the OPCW earlier. There is a specific debate with the Russians, in a constructive fashion, saying: “There was a poisoning of Mr Navalny. Answer the case.” The Russians have not been forthcoming. On the issue of sanctions every day or what may happen in future, there are good reasons why we do not speculate, one of which is that an evidential threshold needs to be met. Anyone or any institution that is sanctioned has the right to appeal, and we need to ensure that the sanctions we impose are robust.