Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Layla Michelle Moran (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): It is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I hope that the main thing that we are getting across to the Minister is our collective sense of the urgency of acting and, frankly, our full support for the Government doing so much more than they have done today. I put it on the record that the Liberal Democrats stand with the people of Ukraine and that we stand ready and waiting to impose the greatest possible sanctions on Vladimir Putin, his associates and the Russian economy if necessary We have to lead from the front. In that vein, we must take decisions that are going to be painful. So far we have talked the talk, but I am afraid that today’s list of sanctions was thin gruel. I do not think that it has done anything; I do not even think that there is a line in the sand. Within hours of the sanctions being announced, as the Minister rose to his feet just a couple of hours ago, even more had been done by Putin—and, incidentally, even more has been announced by our allies We have to do more. If we do not say that enough is enough now, what will be enough? Is it when Russia has invaded Donbas? Is it when it invades Kyiv, Lviv, Tallinn? Which is it and where is the trigger? We have some clarity in this debate, in so far as that if it does not pull back, time seems to be a trigger. That is good, but I am afraid to say that I do not think we have done anything that will have any effect at all Putin’s cronies must be subject to the strongest possible sanctions now, because it is through them that Putin and his inner circle keep their wealth. If we go after his associates, we go after him. Actually, we are rather uniquely placed to do so, because they choose London. They live here—it is "Londongrad" to them. That means that we have leverage. However, the reason for that leverage is more difficult for us to swallow: our country’s failure over many years to stand up for what is right has led us to this point. The blind eye turned, the questions not asked, the quick buck or donation made—that is how Putin’s associates have been able to sink their teeth into our society, our economy and indeed our democracy to such an extent Late is better than never, so of course I am glad that the Government are now deciding to do more, but there is so much more still to do. Some £1.5 billion of UK property has been bought with suspicious Russian wealth, according to Transparency International, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I do of course welcome the sanctions announced today, but Germany’s first tranche of sanctions was Nord Stream 2. Up to this point, for the last two weeks, the narrative was about how we had done more than Germany, but this is round one in the boxing match: Germany has brought Nord Stream 2, and we have brought five banks that do not really matter and three people whom the United States had already sanctioned We have heard the Foreign Secretary say that the Government want to impose severe sanctions; well, now is the time. Let me be helpful, and say that I think we need to start by heeding the names of those who were identified by Alexei Navalny and his team as "key enablers" more than a year ago. There is a problem, outside this Chamber, with naming those individuals, because many of them have very deep pockets and very expensive lawyers. The speech of the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely) underlined the issues involved, and I am well aware that the Minister knows of them, but I am going to use my privilege to name 35 of those individuals, because I think it important for us to have their names. I can reassure you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I have already checked this with the Clerks Here are those 35 names: Roman Abramovich, Denis Bortnikov, Andrey Kostin, Mikhail Murashko, Dmitry Patrushev, Igor Shuvalov, Vladimir Solovye, Alisher Usmanov, Alexander Bastrykin, Alexander Bortnikov, Konstantin Ernst, Victor Gavrilov, Dmitry Ivanov, Alexander Kalashnikov, Sergei Kirienko, Elena Morozova, Denis Popov, Margarita Simonyan, Igor Yanchuk, Victor Zolotov, Oleg Deripaska, Alexei Miller, Igor Sechin, Gennady Timchenko, Nikolai Tokarev, Alexander Beglov, Yuri Chaika, Andrei Kartapolov, Pavel Krasheninnikov, Mikhail Mishustin, Ella Pamfilova, Dmitry Peskov, Sergei Sobyanin, Anton Vaino and Andrey Vorobyev I thank the House for its patience. Some of those people have been named before under privilege, but I believe that it is important for all of them to be named, lest we forget that while Putin’s national security council engaged in that sham discussion—a discussion which, by the way, seemed to have been filmed hours before it was aired—Navalny was being tried, and faces potentially another 15 years in prison. We must be vigilant for any attempt by Putin to use this crisis as a cover for what would be, in effect, the murder of Navalny I urge the Government to recognise that now is the time to freeze, and begin the process of seizing, the assets of not just those three individuals, but all Putin’s cronies who are in the UK. We must kick them—and their families—out of this country, and publish the review of the golden visa scheme. Over the weekend the Home Secretary said she would present a statement on that to the House, but we have yet to see it. I hope we will see it this week, because it is time to make it absolutely clear that the era of Russian interference in our society, country and democracy is over My final plea, which echoes a plea already made by others, is for the Government to bring forward all the legislation that remains outstanding—legislation which is in the Conservative party manifesto and which Ministers have said from the Dispatch Box that they want to pass. It should not be so difficult to do something that the Government have said time and again that they want to do. Where is that register of beneficial ownership? What has happened to the Registration of Overseas Entities Bill? We know that it is ready; please can the Minister accelerate its passage, and also the passage of the economic crime Bill? We stand ready and waiting for the Government to do more. Our democracy is at risk and so is the international rules-based order. I urge the Minister to heed our calls and do more.