Luciana Berger
Main Page: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)Department Debates - View all Luciana Berger's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(12 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
We are grateful to the Foreign Secretary for dealing with that point. Perhaps we can now keep the statement exchanges to the subject matter. I know that the hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) is now a Knight, but we must stick to what is right and that is the content of the statement.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
What is the Foreign Secretary’s assessment of the prospects of Russia agreeing to impose an arms embargo on Syria, given that Russia remains one of Syria’s principal arms suppliers?
Mr Hague
There is not much prospect at the moment of Russia agreeing to an arms embargo—that is the straight answer. Russia continues to sell arms to the regime. Russia has many close interests allied to those of the Assad regime and has a naval base there. Syria has been an important customer for Russian arms, and that is no doubt one of the factors behind Russia’s defence of the Assad regime and its veto at the UN Security Council. So, the prospect of Russia agreeing at the moment is very small.