Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will condemn recent comments made by the Kremlin on (a) Mikhail Khodorkovsky and (b) other dissident pro-democratic Russians, in the context of the formal platform of engagement with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The Government condemns the continued deterioration in the Kremlin's dire domestic human rights record and its use of repressive legislation to crush political opposition, repress anti-war voices and maintain a climate of fear. We regularly use multilateral fora to highlight the Russian authorities' human rights violations and hold them accountable. For example on 7 October the UK co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council urging the Russian authorities to uphold fundamental freedoms and renewing the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) engages a wide range of Russian civil society figures. The FCDO, Home Office, operational partners and other government departments work closely to ensure UK residents are safe and secure.