Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following recent atrocities by ISIL against a number of countries, including Russia, they have reconsidered the statement by the Defence Secretary on 19 February that there is a "real and present danger" Russia could try to destabilise the Baltic states.

The Government's position has been stated in the recently published Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm 9161). Russia's behaviour is hard to predict and although highly unlikely, we cannot rule out the possibility that Russia may feel tempted to act aggressively against NATO Allies. We also want to keep open the possibility of co-operation and will continue to seek to engage with Russia on global security issues, including international efforts to tackle the ISIL threat.