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Russia

Thank you, Mr. Bayley, and good morning to everyone. I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the important issue of UK relations with Russia. Recent weeks have shown that this subject is very much on the minds of the Government, Her Majesty’s Opposition and many hon. Members. For the record, I am the chairman of the all-party group on Russia. Despite the events of the past few weeks, there is more to unite than divide the United Kingdom and Russia, and it is important to start the debate on that note. Currently, the UK and Russia co-operate on a range of important international issues, such as nuclear non-proliferation, climate change—both countries are, of course, Kyoto signatories—and people trafficking. Russia is also a key member of the middle east Quartet, and is a member of the G8 and the UN Security Council. In many of those international bodies there is good co-operation between the two countries, and long may that continue. I hope that relations will soon be restored on the important issue of co-operation on counter-terrorism. One certainty on which I hope that we can all agree today is that organisations such as al-Qaeda are as much a threat to Russian interests and the way of life of ordinary Russians as they are to UK citizens. I hope that the Minister will comment on how quickly he feels we will be able to restore co-operation on the important issue of counter-terrorism and intelligence gathering and sharing. The other key issue is trade. Russia and the United Kingdom are doing more trade than ever before. Twenty years ago, trade was minimal, but 400 UK companies now operate in Russia. In the first three months of this year, the UK invested $3.1 billion in Russia, and last year bilateral trade was around $10 billion to $12 billion. Those who watch the City will know that there are currently $13 billion worth of stocks in Russian companies on the London stock exchange and the alternative investment market. In fact, about 42 Russian companies are listed on both exchanges. Later this year, the Rusal mining company will hopefully be listed in London. It is important that London remains the place that many Russian companies want to raise their finance and capital because there are other continental competitors. The last few months and weeks have been dominated by the case of the sad and tragic death of Alexander Litvinenko. His death was tragic and sinister in equal measure, and his killers deserve to be brought to justice. It is completely unacceptable that anyone should be murdered in such a way: with a nuclear toxin on British soil, which also put other UK nationals at risk. That put extreme danger on to the streets of London and I hope that we will soon be able to resolve the current impasse and bring the main suspect before the courts. I will return to that later. More recently, it was alleged that somebody was sent from Russia apparently to assassinate a political dissident who is resident in the UK. If somebody was allegedly prevented from doing so, it is a great mystery that they were not arrested. The charge suggested by the police through the newspapers was that of conspiracy to murder. If it was known that a person was going to attempt to kill a Russian dissident living in London, why were they not arrested, subsequently charged and brought before the courts? A court date should certainly have been given. Why was the person supposedly allowed to return to Russia? It seems contradictory that we are asking for a Russian national who is suspected of murder to be extradited, while at the same time releasing a Russian national in London about whom we have evidence of involvement in a conspiracy to murder. I hope that the Minister will comment on that. The Litvinenko case raises the issue of political dissidents of whatever nationality living in the United Kingdom. It is not acceptable for such people to endanger UK citizens through things that they might do or say. If we can have acceptable behaviour contracts for people who graffiti our towns and villages, we could at least have some sort of behaviour contracts for political dissidents. It is extraordinary that many of those people are increasingly abusing the good faith and trust put in them and using the political asylum system as a cover from which they will often make unhelpful comments about other nations. It is unacceptable that certain political dissidents in this country have called for the violent overthrow of a democratically elected Government, even if the integrity of the democratic election in Russia seven years ago is questionable. Nevertheless, the Government were democratically elected and it is absolutely wrong that President Putin should be put in the position of having somebody in London calling for his violent overthrow. A further point is that of extradition. Again, it appears slightly contradictory that the Russian Government have asked for the extradition of 21 people from the United Kingdom and, as I understand it, not one of those requests has been granted, and yet the UK is demanding the extradition of the main suspect in the Litvinenko case. I hope that the Minister will comment on that.