Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the comments of Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of the land-based armed forces of Uganda, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We are very concerned about the comments made by Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Our High Commission in Kampala is working closely with the Government of Uganda on the response to the Ukraine crisis. Deputy Foreign Minister, Henry Okello Oryem, issued a public statement stating that Kainerugaba's comments were not in line with the Government policy. We will continue to encourage the international community to unite on Putin's callous actions. Putin's war of choice is based on a series of lies. Russia continues to use disinformation to attempt to justify its military action against Ukraine. In total, more than 100 different stories promoting unfounded claims around pre-texts for invasion were identified being disseminated by Kremlin-controlled media in February. This is a transparent attempt at disinformation and to provide a pretext for military action.