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European Affairs

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The British Council has also been severely harassed over the past year, including by visits to its offices, making it impossible for it to secure new leases, and a whole series of things affecting even the teaching of the English language in Russia. That is to be deplored. All this also matters for the people of Russia for the simple reason that every piece of work done on human rights there shows the growing use of torture throughout elements of the criminal justice system. Amnesty International's report last year made it clear that torture was endemic throughout the whole of Russia, despite the fact that the Russian Federation's constitution prohibits its use. It is also clear that there is a culture of violence in the police service and the security services, which means that many new entrants to those services have to go through acts of humiliation that inculcate yet further the process of violence. The freedom of association and the freedom of peaceful assembly have both been undermined this year by changes in the law brought in by President Putin. It is disturbing to see that some of the techniques that we thought had disappeared with the Soviet regime are now coming back.