Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

I think even the noble Lord knows when he says “appeared to weaken” that the story that was reported was not exactly accurate. We have new sanctions that we are introducing, although they will not be introduced perhaps as quickly as some noble Lords would like, and we can discuss them when they come before the House. But the idea that we have weakened existing sanctions is simply not correct.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, we have seen in the conflicts in the Middle East we have just been discussing in the House, in Sudan and now in Ukraine, that there has been a systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure, which is a clear breach of Article 8 of the Rome statute and Article 52 of the Geneva convention. There seems to be impunity for combatants targeting essential civilian infrastructure. Will the Government make it very clear that both those perpetuating the targeting of civilian infrastructure and any country that is supporting, facilitating or providing any munitions that assist in the targeting of civilian infrastructure will be sanctioned by the United Kingdom, there will investigations into their breaches of international humanitarian law, and we will prosecute them through any means we have as a member of international judicial resolve?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I do share, as I think the noble Lord knows, his deep concerns around the changing nature of warfare and what seems to be happening in many places, as he said, with the deliberate targeting of civilians and infrastructure. We do not comment about future sanctions, as he knows, but we will take robust action. We have been leaders in calling for accountability and for enabling some of the mechanisms by which that is achieved to be put into place around the world, and we will continue to do that. It is important that the UK maintains its reputation for standing up for the rule of law, and we will be champions for this whenever we need to be and using whatever mechanisms we need.