Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of President Putin's statement that the Russian annexation of Crimea was planned before the referendum on self-determination.

UK policy, which is fully in line with our international partners including the EU and US, has not changed. We do not, and will not, recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. Russia’s intervention in Ukraine represents a flagrant violation of a number of its international commitments. That is why Russia has been isolated in the Security Council and in the wider international community. Our message to Russia remains constant: return Crimea to Ukraine. Until Moscow does so, it can expect the EU’s Crimea sanctions to remain in place.