Urgent Question on Georgia unrest and Ukraine war in House of Commons

Urgent Question on Georgia unrest and Ukraine war in House of Commons

we now come to the Urgent question Jim Shannon thank you Mr Speaker to ask the Secretary of State for defense if he will make a statement on Russia’s aggression relating to Ukraine and the situation in Georgia thank you speaker we are on day 8111 of Putin’s so-call special military operation an operation That was supposed to last for 3 days and he has failed in in all of his objectives but of course the conflict is evolving and challenging Russia’s newly formed Northern grouping of forces have attacked into Ukraine’s k k region taking control of several Villages by opening up an additional attack uh an axis of attack Russia is almost certainly attempting to divert Ukrainian resources away from other parts of the front line and to threaten kke the second largest city in Ukraine Mr Speaker we will not be diverted uh from our commitment to provide Ukraine with the support they need to Prevail because Mr Speaker Ukraine will prevail in April the Prime Minister announced our largest ever and most comprehensive package of equipment from the United Kingdom including long range strike Air Defense Artillery reconnaissance protective Mobility development of Ukraine’s Navy and Airfield enablement ammunitions to support the introduction of the F-16 the Prime Minister also announced £500 million of additional funding which takes us to three billion an in the UK military aid for Ukraine this financial year we continue to work with International allies and partners to cohere and coordinate our support Ukraine including through the international capability coalitions where we co-lead the maritime and drone coalitions we recently announced a complete package of £325 million for Cutting Edge drones this will deliver more than 10,000 drones for the Ukrainian armed forces in March we were pleased to congratulate the first 10 Ukrainian Pilots to complete their basic flying training in the United Kingdom these traines join more than 655,000 ukrainians who have received training in the UK since 2014 including over 39,000 recruits since 2022 through operation interflex turning to Georgia Mr Speaker we continue to observe with concern the events into B including yesterday’s violent clashes in and around the Georgian Parliament and the intimidation of peaceful protesters the United Kingdom along with our partners is of course committed to the right of peaceful protest and we are con concerned by the introduction of the law on transparency of foreign influence the UK is a close friend to Georgia and as such we call for calm and restraint on all sides we hope to continue to work with Georgia with whom we have a deep and longstanding partnership and to support the legitimate aspirations of the Georgian people as they pursue a free Sovereign and Democratic future Jim Shan Mr Speaker can I first of all thank you for granting the the UK we much appreciate and on ini it’s very important can I thank the minister uh for for his very helpful uh response and and for other members who right honorable and honorable members who have stayed behind hav woke up to reports of Ukraine attempting to push back in the kov region only to find the Russian defense Ministry has claimed its Air Forces have destroyed 10 longrange missiles known as atacms that Ukraine’s military launched overnight at cria the media reporting may have settled down but the situation over there is as volatile as it has ever been and the Rippling effect in this entire region is continuing at a time when blinkin from President Biden’s Administration visits Ukraine to give physical and Military assistance to Ukraine and encouragement the minister will understand that Georgia is pushing pushing forward legislation as Russia tries to restore its Empire of old and control all of its former satellite States the Russian threat is clearly undermining the Democratic process of this entire region and once I understand and agree with the UK’s clear and public stardance of support for Ukraine and I congratulate the government and the minister on what has been done and what will be done in the future the current situation does I believe demand further action and I’m very keen to get The Minister’s response on what that further action will be I’d ask the minister to make clear what further enhanced help we can give to facilitate the Democratic process as well as the vital military aid necessary in this region the war which began in 2022 is on the precipice and I’m asking how we can ensure that the result is a victory for democracy for freedom for Liberty not simply for Ukraine but also for Georgia and for all of us globally Mr speaker thank you I’m very grateful to The Honorable gentleman for asking this question he he he is extremely good and valid question because he sets the question of Ukraine within the regional context of the influence that Russia has sort exert uh over its uh uh uh former former satellite state uh he’s right to point out Mr Speaker that the uh the the front line in Ukraine is turbulent uh a full picture is yet to emerge uh but what we can be certain of uh Mr Speaker is are continued to resolve to ensure that our Ukrainian friends uh Prevail the ongoing visit of secretary uh blinkin I think uh reminds us of the the the the remarkable heft and scale of Western support of which we are uh play our part very proudly and I think that is the uh unavoidable uh direction of travel that the Resolute support of the friends of Ukraine will help it Prevail despite turbulence and despite the attempts of uh Russia to uh create a new Dynamic on what is a very turbulent front line he asked some very uh cogent questions about Georgia and he’s right to point out that uh Georgia knows more than any other country about the deprivations of a Russian invasion following the uh horrifying events of 2008 uh we are very clear Mr Speaker that Georgia has the Sovereign right to pursue its own uh autonomous and Sovereign path if it seeks to turn its eyes uh to the West towards NATO membership and to maybe members of of the European Union that is the The Sovereign right of uh Georgia to to forge that own destiny we will continue uh to to cooperate uh in Earnest and sincere partnership with the ukra uh with the Georgians with with whom we have a very meaningful uh defense relationship I’ve had the pleasure of visiting tobli twice as a foreign office Minister and seeing the tremendous institutional work we do uh with the Georgians who have a fine defense tradition chair of the intelligence and security committee sir Julian Lewis you Mr Speaker does the government share my view that just as Soviet failure in Afghanistan LED considerably towards the downfall of the Soviet Empire Putin’s failure in Ukraine could have a similar effect on his future and his Ambitions and is it any coincidence at all that this renewed Russian attack is taking place before the aid which America has belatedly decided to give to Ukraine has a chance to arrive answer to the right my right horable friend’s question is yes uh and uh one can see the uh extraordinary mobilization of Russian State and Society uh and the huge expenditure that Putin was having to make uh to maintain momentum in his failed military operation as confirmation actually of long-term weakness we now come to Shadow Minister Luke Pa thank you Mr Speaker I’d like to thank the member for strangford for securing this urgent question it’s now 881 days since Putin began the fullscale illegal invasion of Ukraine Russia has opened a renewed offensive in the kke region but ukrainians are continuing to fight with huge Courage the UT the UK is totally United in support of Ukraine the shadow defense secretary and Shadow foreign secretary were in ke for the last two days and reaffirmed that Labor’s commitment to Ukraine is Ironclad if Putin wins he will not stop at Ukraine that is why the government have had and will will continue to have Labor’s fullest support for military aid to Ukraine and for reinforcing NATO’s allies across Eastern Europe every commitment the UK of UK military aid since Putin invaded has had Labor’s fullest support and that will continue with a general election later this year there may be a change to labor but there will be no change to Britain’s resolve in standing with Ukraine confronting Russian aggression and pursuing Putin for his war crimes on Georgia we’re deeply concerned ered by The increased pressure on civil society freedoms and intimidation of protesters the proposed draft law is not in line with a democratic values and risks taking Georgia away from the Euro Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people what discussions has the minister had with the US the EU and other Regional Partners on the latest developments in Georgia is the UK putting Georgia on the agenda for the G7 meeting in Italy and the upcoming EPC what steps is he taking with allies to counter Russian disinformation and hybrid activities in Georgia and across the caucuses Western Balkans and the rest of Europe and on Ukraine can I ask what support is being given to help Ukraine build up their air defenses to stop air and drone strikes on critical infrastructure especially in the kke region and how much of the money has been committed to the international fund for Ukraine has been spent and how much is left to be spent Mr Speaker the UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for them to win I’m glad that he pointed out the remarkable courage of our Ukrainian friends in terms of uh their efforts to counter the new aess of advance in the Ki region uh and we sincerely welcome the continued cross Party Support of uh uh our support to Ukraine uh he expressed uh the concern that we do share about the uh uh the the new law passed in uh Georgia and we we it is on the agenda of our discussions with allies I can’t comment it’s beyond my scope Mr Speaker to comment from what might be on the agenda for the the G7 or the EPC but it is certainly an issue of concern that we do discuss with uh trusted Partners uh and have done very frequently uh recently a huge amount of institutional effort is going uh from into uh countering disinformation from our side uh across the entire region uh and uh as well as the Western Balkans and Central Asia the former so-called satellite states of the uh of Russia that have a particular vulnerability to uh disinformation from the Kremlin and I won’t go into details about that effort but that is a s uh that’s a significant piece of work uh Mr Speaker which will continue to be extremely important he also a good question about air defense of course we have gifted uh thousands of uh units of uh air defense uh to Ukraine there will surely be more to come and the uplift in finance in financial support that we have announced uh clearly that will be an issue for the ukrainians and through our uh gifting program but air defense will feature largely in that chair of the foreign first select committee alist your CS thank you Mr Speaker and can I congratulate my honorable friend for securing this really important urgent question on Georgia the brutalization of peaceful ordinary Georgians and hospitalization of opposition leader David katsarava is utterly shameful so can the minister please assure us that he will protest directly to the Georgian government and call on the Ambassador regarding the abuses of the public that we are seeing on our screens daily on Ukraine the fall of a defa at the start of this year was a shameful result of Allied inaction to get to Ukraine what it needed that falls on us we cannot now see the same take place in KH which is under assault for exactly the reason set out already in this discussion so can the minister please assure us that suff sufficient ammunition is reaching the front line now and also update us on what we are doing to procure sufficient artillery shells because Ukraine as ever needs us to give them enough to win and not just to survive well Mr speaker thank you uh to the chair of the uh uh foreign affairs uh select committee uh we of course expressed our concerns about the direction of uh uh travel with regard to uh protess in Georgia and we and the foreign office I know has made those representations to the Ambassador here and we’ll continue to keep a watching brief on on that issue uh she asked uh uh about K of course uh ammunition suppli is is uh a central component of our efforts both politically and in terms of what we are gifting and sourcing we’ given over 300,000 units of ammunition uh but we acknowledge that we must all in the western friendly Nations Coalition we must all mobilize to a far greater degree that’s why we think initiatives coming from the Czech side and across all European and and NATO partners are important and we must strain and every senu to ensure that the flow continues first Martin to use thank you Mr Speaker uh in terms of cross Party Support that shared on these benches as well and let me also congratulate my honorable friend the member for strangford for gaining uh the ukq I I wonder in in terms of what we can additionally do for Ukraine following the chair of the Foreign Affairs select committee does the minister agree it’s now time for the UK to join with other NATO allies in supporting the Ceta Munitions program on top of what’s already been provided and in terms of Georgia the government States and its aim is to advance Georgia’s Euro Atlantic integration and security coroporation support for Democratic reforms can the minister advised the house given the dream parties lch away from democratic reform how stable is this integration and security cooperation and does the minister agree with me that it’s time for the people of Georgia to have their say on the dream party’s agenda well Mr Speaker I’m grateful to uh The Honorable gentleman for his questions uh we have not joined the Czech program because it would replicate work we already doing but we commend its activities and we see it as part of a broader solution to mobilizing effort to increase the flow of Munitions uh so it is welcome uh on the political future Georgia clearly that is a a question for for the Georgians themselves but what we do note is that there is a very Lively debate uh which is of course Spilled Out onto the streets of thei about the uh the direction of travel uh and I agree with my uh the the The Honorable gentleman that the the those dictating the direction of travel whether it be uh in the Euro Atlantic direction or anything else should be uh it should be a function of the democratic expression of the people of Georgia sah hton I applaud the number of personnel trained under op interflex but does the minister support my call to further extend op interflex to train Ukrainian female Defender volunteers Mr Speaker yes of course we will train whoever ukrainians sent us so Chris Brown thank Mr Speaker I warned in 2014 that if we kept on feeding the crocodile the danger was that we would be the last on the menu which is why it’s so important that we get these next steps right over the next two years in relation to making sure that Putin doesn’t win in Ukraine two things still perplex me one is why have we and our allies not dramatically ramped up the production of the artillery that Ukraine actually needs as a United team and secondly why have we yet to seize Russian State assets sitting in British and European Banks and repurpose them for reparations to pay for the Reconstruction of Ukraine Mr Speaker um we are ramping up uh the production of artillery right across uh European and and and States Beyond Europe that is that is uh a complex effort involving the military uh industrial base but those those those steps are in place and we are seeing uh I’m confident we will see an increase in Supply uh he asked about State assets of course we want that to be the outcome but the route must be legal FR thank you we in Britain relative to the size of our army have given more military equipment to Ukraine than anyone we’ve now given them all of our Heavy Artillery to help them fight har cannot be allowed to fall but let’s be honest all the kit the ukrainians need to have already won this war has been sitting in American Storage depos for two years yeah from f-16s to long range missiles when are we going to get it through to the occupant of the White House that if he carries on dithery and the Russians take not only do the ukrainians lose he loses too literally right on friend makes a a very pertinent and and and correct point of course we we we LED as hard as we could um in the aftermath of invasion and led the way uh with a critical provision of uh systems such as n law uh and of course historians will reflect on whether or not uh the months following the uh Invasion were an opportunity missed to uh give a decisive advantage to our to our Ukrainian friends but our Focus now is on ensuring that in the round and uh uh overwhelmingly uh the combined uh effect of the huge package from the United States now as well as ours and all friendly Nations uh can ensure that they uh will maintain uh the defense and ultimately The Liberation of their Sovereign Jam St speaker some time ago I asked the Prime Minister about a relationship with turkey now we might have some issues with turkey but the fact remains that geographically next door to Georgia its strategic position is crucial furthermore turkey has very important links with many of the players and this deeply dangerous situation so can I ask what conversations is the foreign office having with anchor about resolving this situation well Mr Speaker uh I think um I can answer on behalf of my uh cross departmental colle I think many conversations and we recognize the centrality of turkey’s importance as a a strong NATO Ally and a nation with tremendous military confidence which has also made a remarkable contribution to the defense of uh Ukraine sovereignty by the provision of the remarkable birar weapon system Mar PR speak can I on Georgia can I welcome the minister saying the UK government wants to continue to work with Georgia and that’s quite right but is he aware of the comments of the senior US state department official Jim O’Brien uh who yesterday said that the relationship to the US and Georgia could be reviewed uh could be at risk uh and possibly restrictions financial and travel uh could be uh imposed but is it not the case all of that can be avoided if the Georgian government dropped this foreign agent law or at least significantly amended well Mr Speaker my right horable friend is and he speaks with authority and he is right in his his in his analysis uh and of course we note the US View and we have express our concerns and what we will continue to do is use our strong relationship with the children to ensure that they amend for their own interest their their behavior I think so thank you Mr Speaker leads is sit the city is harke the people of leads are gravely concerned that the invasion of har is imminent colleagues have already asked about artillery sh in short supply but even bullets are in short supply what is the UK doing to supply the Ukraine defense of H with bullets also are we upscaling humanitarian Aid to Har and utilizing that for evacuation of civilians who want to leave and will the UK government Supply additional visas for harvans who want to come to the UK because the people El Lees are ready to welcome them into their homes well Mr I’m grateful for the question uh from the from the member for leads the sister city I now realized which is uh interesting uh we are what we are doing is is is putting more money than ever before into our support for to lethal Aid uh for Ukraine an additional 500 million P which will take our support this year to to to3 billion p a lot of that will go ammunitions uh but of course humanitarian is also significant and that is an important part of the picture speak I like any bully Russia will advance if they feel the West is not supporting Ukraine and they’ve seen that we’ve not been supporting enough in the west because of the lack of ammunition that’s been got done the shortage of ammunition for any Soldier and feel as the minister is fully aware is crucial to their confidence and their morale so can we have a as biggest push we possibly can that what the Americans have said is actually in the front line I I I saw this morning they said some many ammunition has already arrived has it already arrived and what is the time payable for the rest because it’s completely unfair on the Armed Forces out there well Mr Speaker his analogy of my rightful friend’s analogy of Russia as a bully is absolutely correct uh we are focused on uh increasing ammunition supplies and my judgment is that uh the the 61 billion pound uh $61 billion package uh from the US side combined with our additional support will result in in tangible Improvement in terms of the operational situation on the front line go thank you M Mr Speaker as we know Georgia alongside Ukraine aspire to join NATO does the minister therefore agree it’s really important that Georgia respect peaceful protest and regarding Ukraine with the Russians closing in an artillery range with harke what military uh delivery of support can we deliver now to prevent Russia from being able to bombard the city of harke would which would be catastrophic for the civilian population well Mr Speaker uh I agree with his analysis with regard to NATO’s Georgia’s NATO aspirations um that is clear and the support we can give now is to continue our uh remarkable supply of uh lethal Aid uh and uh particularly with regard to air defense what Putin is doing in Georgia now is exactly the same as he tried to do in Ukraine uh 10 years ago yet the British government unlike the American government doesn’t seem to be thinking of any recalibration at all with the current Georgian regime which is beating up its own citizens in the streets of tii I mean why hasn’t he at least summoned the Georgian Ambassador in London what action has he taken rather than just words to make our views completely clear to the current Georgian government that their behavior and this legislation is unacceptable well Mr Speaker in truth those are questions for uh my colleagues in the uh uh foreign Department but but uh our analysis is that the strong relationship we have with the Georgians in the defense sector is an important means of ensuring that their direction of travel uh is a positive one speaker there’s growing concern across Central and Northern Europe uh about the uh issue in Georgia will he have conversations with his own colleagues in government to ensure that our partners across Europe that their commitment to Nato is increased to prepare for the undoubted expansionism that uh Putin is engaged in currently and is probably going to step up in the coming months yeah yeah speaker the answer is yes and of course he will observe like I do that actually the consequence of uh Putin’s effort to demonstrate NATO’s weakness has been exactly the opposite NATO is now larger and stronger than it was before February 2022 and we uh will lead the way in ensuring that all members uh meet the uh the investment required to be a member of that tremendous defensive Alliance Mr Speaker I congratulate my honorable friend in securing this urgent question the United Kingdom has led the world in supporting Ukraine militarily economically diplomatically and politically and as a former sanctions Minister I saw the real impact that the United Kingdom could do with its Partners working together on this however there is a real loophole with with regards to the international strategy in cutting off Putin’s finances the United Nations peacekeeping Force for which we are a member currently procures its military helicopters from Russia and therefore that money goes back into Putin’s Pockets can I ask the minister was he or the government aware of this now that they are will the government raise this at the G7 to urgently ensure we cut off Putin’s finances well I’m thankful Mr Speaker for my honorable friend raising that and I will I will ensure my colleague the sanctions Minister uh takes that into account they agree you Mr Speaker we are united in our determination to support Ukraine as it seeks to uh defeat Putin labor welcomed the creation of a new UK lvan drone capability Coalition earlier this year and the UK commitment to spend 200 million on drones for Ukraine can the minister confirm when the first drones under that initiative will be delivered to Ukrainian forces uh very soon attention Mr Speaker as chair of the Georgia all party group I have watched the demonstrations in toi with no little concern whilst I have noticed no New Movement of Georgia towards Russia culturally economically or militarily as some have been suggesting it would appear that the current Georgian Dream government are becoming more ready to use the apparatus of the State sometimes with violence to suppress political dissent free speech and the media so will my right honorable friend impress on his Georgian counterpart as an ally and as a friend that this is not how Democratic countries behave if they wish to join Western institutions and participate as a free Democratic Values country well my honorable friend is is correct Georgia must live up to the to the standard required if it’s to have uh if it’s to be sincere about its Democratic aspirations and we do make that point to our friends in Georgia thank you very much Mr Speaker well we’re all rightly proud of the skills of our Armed Forces personnel and the training that they’re providing through operation interflex uh for ukrainians uh but that I understand is only designated up until this summer so can the minister now confirm that that program will continue for as long as it’s needed wholeheartedly uh Mr Speaker our commitment to training our Ukrainian allies is enduring and of course we will always respond to the type and form of training that they uh they themselves require Shar thank you Mr Speaker um the the events in the United States and and the understandable focus on the conflict in Gaza and the unacceptable loss of life there have led some to argue that our support for Ukraine is wavering would the minister seek to put a stop to that deliberate disinformation by setting out that our support for Ukraine is absolutely is absolute that we stand in solidarity with them in their fight against Putin’s illegal aggression that their battle is indeed that they are battling in some respects on our behalf because Putin’s aggression as we see will not stop with the Ukraine and would he given that will he set out how we are going to ensure that the ammunition that is so desperately needed did gets to you the front line as quickly as possible speaker I welcome that question and by any measure uh our commitment to Ukraine is uh significant and unwavering uh and of course recently that was expressed by the increase in our annual support from 2.5 billion P worth of lethal a to3 billion P worth and by the 100-year uh defensive Alliance signed by the prime minister with President zalinski on his recent visit to to ke thank you would like to thank my uh colleague and friend for securing this urgent question and in doing so uh Minister I want to ask what help and support are we as a nation given to those countries in Eastern Europe that feel under threat such as Estonia uh from the Potential Threat of uh Putin W to expand back into what was former Russian territory speaker that’s a very good question question and the support we are giving is welcoming them as brothers uh brother countries uh brother and sister countries uh into the NATO the defensive NATO alliance and of course in our case we are very proud to have our enhanced forward presence battle group in Talon and Estonia and of course anyone who any members who like me have visited uh that battle group know that there’s a tremendous ese to call uh which generated by the tremendous joint defensive work carried out by our uh British soldiers alongside their Estonian allies

Watch live as an Urgent Question is asked about Russia’s aggression relating to Ukraine and the situation in Georgia.

It comes as the head of the Ukrainian police force in the Kharkiv region has described the situation in the town of Vovchansk as “extremely difficult”.

In Georgia, protesters smashed barriers at the parliament building after it approved a divisive “foreign agents” bill.

#ukraine #parliament #georgia

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