Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 25 November (HL Deb, col 840), whether they supported the European Union's attempts to bring Ukraine within its sphere of influence; and what assessment they have made of the effect of those attempts on the present situation in Ukraine.

This Government is a strong supporter of a closer EU-Ukraine relationship. The signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in June is a significant step towards closer relations, and a commitment by Ukraine to European norms and values. In the long term this could lead to EU membership for Ukraine, if that is what its people and government want, and if Ukraine is able to implement the wide ranging economic, political and judicial reforms that would be necessary to meet the demanding conditions of entry.

The crisis in Ukraine was not a result of the EU’s actions or the proposed signature of the Association Agreement in 2013. It is very clear where responsibility for the crisis lies – in Russia’s deliberate acts to destabilise its neighbour, its illegal annexation of Crimea and continued support of the separatists in eastern Ukraine.