Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 24 February 2022 [Draft]
I think the member knows that we will be putting in more sanctions. There is also a bill going through, so that the Parliament can investigate things further—I think that the member might be aware of that.
It is not often that we agree on things in this chamber, but, today, we stand firm in a show of unity to our friends in Ukraine.
The links between our two countries are deep and long-standing. Ukrainians first arrived in Scotland in the 1750s, many studying at the universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Following them came a wave of their countrymen, fleeing the oppression of the Russian empire, just as Ukrainians are doing today. Many of those refugees arrived on Lothian Coal Company ships, settling in Midlothian, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
This conflict will only displace more people. Some estimate that it could displace up to 5 million people, which would be the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the 1990s. We must offer them our support, just as we did in the 1940s, when Ukrainian members of the Polish armed forces came to Scotland. Some eventually stayed and made their home here.
What can we do this time? That question has been asked many times already, and there is an answer. We can supply aid, whether financial or medical, and we could use the Scottish Government’s humanitarian emergency fund to help. People displaced by the conflict will require warm winter clothing and medicines. They will need food, sleeping bags, shelter and all the other things that are needed to survive the cold. Scotland can play a role in support of the UK’s overall effort.
We must take care not to forget that this is Putin’s war and not that of the Russian people. This morning, I was contacted by a young Russian man who is currently in a city in Russia. He told me:
“The people of Russia do not approve of what is currently happening in Ukraine. We do not want to live behind an iron curtain for the next 20 years trying to re-establish diplomatic relationships with the West and restore our economy. It is hard to imagine what is happening in Ukraine right now, but it is also not easy to wake up and be on the side of the aggressors in a military conflict. But this is what we now have due to the ambitions of one man who wants to restore the borders of the Soviet Union. Western countries can affect what is happening. The safety and future wellbeing of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples are worth the effort.”
His view is shared by hundreds of thousands of people across Russia who are sick of the propaganda, the nuclear sabre rattling and the rigged elections. Instead, they just want democracy—something that we take for granted. They are the Russians who we see bravely filling the streets of Moscow to protest, despite the threat of beatings, imprisonment or worse. People of that young man’s generation are the only ones who are capable of bringing about meaningful change in Russia in a revolution without bloodshed. However, for them to do so, they need our continued support.
In the Prime Minister’s statement earlier today, he had a clear message for the Ukrainians, which deserves repeating. He said:
“we are on your side.”
To that, I add: we will support you. Together, we will defeat Putin.
16:05