Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help promote democracy in Russia.

The UK has consistently called on Russia to cease repression, release political prisoners and to safeguard space for independent media and civil society, most recently at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 6 October, and will continue to do so. The UK supported the renewal of the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia this September.