Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he is making to his Russian counterpart on the expulsion of the BBC journalist, Sarah Rainsford.

This unjustified action by the Russian authorities further erodes media freedom in the country. The Foreign Secretary has written to Foreign Minister Lavrov setting out his concerns about the decision taken by the Russian authorities, and the British Ambassador in Moscow has also raised this issue with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kremlin on several occasions.

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office has also raised Sarah Rainsford's case with the Russian Ambassador in London, and I have raised it with my Russian counterpart.