Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 — House of Lords, 2022-02-24
Topic: International Affairs
Tariq Ahmad (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords for their support for the position of the Government, but to be frank it is the position, and rightly so, of our country, which stands united against the aggression of Vladimir Putin in terms of what has happened overnight. The noble Lord, Lord Pannick, made a specific point about what is in front of us—with his legal prowess, I know that is what he is focused on—but as I said in my opening remarks, events have superseded where we are today. While this was tabled, rightly, as a debate on what had already been laid before us, equally, as I have already alluded to, there is more to be done in this area. Statements that will be made later by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister will certainly detail the extent to which further action can be taken I can share with the noble Lords, Lord Foulkes and Lord Pannick, and others that we are also looking closely at the economic crime and corporate transparency Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Collins, knows that I have advocated strongly for this, and my right honourable friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have recently reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to bringing it forward. This legislation will, of course, significantly enhance our ability to clamp down on dirty money in the UK by reforming Companies House, a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Wallace. It will also require foreign companies that own property in the UK to reveal their beneficial ownership, a point made by my noble friend Lord Robathan. As we heard from the Prime Minister on 2 February, we are committed to bringing this legislation forward; however, as I said at the start, there are certain things I cannot pre-empt, so I will not go further, but I assure noble Lords that that is very much on our agenda My noble friend Lord Balfe rightly raised various issues concerning people of Russian origin. I say at the outset that we need to be very clear that our argument is not with the Russian people. There are people in our country who are dual nationals—British nationals of Russian origin who are British citizens. Many of them are critics of Mr Putin, and I am sure I speak for every Member of your Lordships’ House when I say that it is completely wrong to in any way put everyone together. This is a clear action by President Putin, and that is what we should be calling out The noble Lord, Lord Browne, spoke about the implications for those individuals already mentioned. Of course, we are in the process of freezing assets and imposing travel bans on the individuals already named. He raised a wider point about the impact that our sanctions have had under various regimes. We have sanctioned 81 individuals and entities—for example, those involved in human rights violations. I think sanctions do have an impact. They send a very strong message to different parts of the world—whether in the context of human rights or as we broaden the issue to include corruption and illicit finance—that we are ready to take action, particularly on the assets of people who may be resident here in the UK, or indeed by restricting their travel. This does have an impact The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, raised the issue of members of the Duma and the Federation Council. We are looking closely at those who voted in support of annexing parts of the two republics—the illegal annexation—and I will share information with noble Lords on specific names and institutions as we move forward. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, asked whether the statutory instruments will apply to the OTs. I can confirm that they will automatically apply to the OTs and Crown dependencies, and we will be co-ordinating with them. The noble Lord knows from our time spent considering the Sanctions and Anti-Money-Laundering Bill the importance of pursuing public registers, as they have all now committed to doing The noble Lord, Lord Browne, the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, my noble friend Lord Balfe and others said that action must be co-ordinated in order to be effective. This has become part of my own mantra, as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, knows well: sanctions are only good enough when they are co-ordinated with our partners, and I assure noble Lords that we are working very closely with them. Yes, because of certain legislative extensions and broadening of legislation, there are certain sanctions we have not applied, but we are working very closely with our European partners, the United States, Canada and Australia to ensure that there is co-ordinated activity in this respect, and that international co-operation will remain at the heart of UK sanctions policy. We will continue to work very closely with the EU and other international partners to tackle these shared objectives. I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, that, as I said in answer to a question earlier this morning, I recently discussed this specific point with the German Minister The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, asked about the Russia report, to which the Government have published their response. I listened carefully to his concerns, and he is right that we have seen the impact of Russian interference around the world and the cyberattacks that have been generated, to which my noble friend also referred. My noble friend also asked about support to Ukraine. Of course, we are working with them, but to be clear, when I met the Ukrainian Foreign Minister yesterday, as well as the physical intervention—which turned from an incursion into what is now an invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine—the issue of disabling all communications in Ukraine and how best we can mitigate such action was very much part of our discussions The noble Lords, Lord Foulkes and Lord Collins, and other noble Lords raised the issue of SWIFT and what could be imposed and what that would mean. What I can say at this juncture, without going into detail, is that, simply put, we have not ruled anything out in terms of sanctions. What we are proposing, and certainly what will be heard later, will be a toughening up of our sanctions regime. We are very conscious to identify all those entities and individuals with strong links to the Kremlin The issue of disinformation was also mentioned briefly. The Russian Government are—and since the events of last night continue to be—conducting an aggressive set of information operations against Ukraine and, indeed, NATO. It was that particular disinformation that they used as a trigger to launch the invasion into the sovereign republics of Ukraine The noble Lord, Lord Cashman, raised an important issue about human rights. He knows how central this is to my own thinking. On Monday, I hope, events prevailing, to be at the Human Rights Council, where I will have various discussions with key partners on what more we can do within the context of the multilateral system. The noble Lord is, of course, right that the issue of human rights within Russia has been a particular challenge. Indeed, my noble friend talked about the opposition within Russia. We do not need to go further than the appalling treatment of Mr Navalny to see how Mr Putin has first suppressed internal opposition and has then moved, as we saw last night, to suppressing democratic progression in other near neighbours I assure the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, that we are using our sanctions regime. Indeed, in December 2020, we announced designations of Russian individuals and entities responsible for the torture and murder of members of the LBGT community in Chechnya specifically. In that regard, I thank the noble Lord and the noble Lord, Lord Collins. We have worked very closely on these issues, and they remain very much at the forefront of our mind On the broader issue of freedom of religion or belief, we have again seen the appalling suppression of the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, in Russia, and we will continue to focus with our international partners on how we can act further in this respect. I said at the start of this debate that events had overtaken us. Rightly, we need now to look at the here and now. In doing so, what my right honourable friend will detail later today will reflect many—