Meeting of the Parliament 23 February 2023
I, too, pay tribute to all those who have been injured or died in the year since the illegal Russian invasion of sovereign Ukraine, and I stand in solidarity with Ukrainians, both those who remain in Ukraine and those who have been forced to flee their homeland.
I, too, am on Russia’s banned and sanctioned list. Such is the state of the country’s intelligence, it has not realised that I ceased to be a Government minister in May 2021. However, I have been insistent and consistent in my resistance to Russia. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine may have started a year ago, but the invasion and annexation by Russia of Crimea took place in 2014, and, as the then Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, I refused diplomatic access for the Russian consulate in Edinburgh from 2014 to 2021.
In the debate, I will focus on the rights of humanity in the war, the collective European response and longer-term resilience issues.
Mahatma Gandhi said:
“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”
Those words are true of the people of Ukraine.
In an eloquent speech last night on the need for a tribunal on Russia’s war crimes against humanity, Jenni Minto reminded us that, in times of war, aggressors deliberately destroy culture and cultural assets in order to destroy people’s soul and erase them from the memory and mind of the world.
In an article that was published in The Guardian in December 2022, the Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information Policy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, warned that Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine’s culture. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy in Ukraine has reported that Russian forces have severely damaged or destroyed about 1,500 objects of cultural heritage and infrastructure. Ukrainian cultural leaders spoke of that at the Edinburgh international culture summit, which was held in the Parliament last year. I urge the Scottish Government to do what it can to support the culture—the soul—of the people of Ukraine.
Conflict is not limited to physical attacks, and the impacts of the war on women and girls make that clear. UN Women has reported that food insecurity among women-led households in Ukraine has increased, that many school-aged girls are being forced to drop out of school and that instances of gender-based violence have increased.
Despite those harsh challenges, women have been central to the war effort, with women making up 22 per cent of the Ukrainian armed forces and with some fighting on the front line.
Women also play an important role in protecting families fleeing the fighting. The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has launched a foundation that focuses on rebuilding the human capital of Ukraine and helping the people of Ukraine to build a future in their native country.
The people of Ukraine have shown immense strength in the face of this attack on their country. However, they need the world to not just condemn Russia but prosecute it. Last week, while speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the US Vice-President, Kamala Harris, announced the US formal determination that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.
In September 2022, UN-appointed independent human rights investigators found that war crimes had been committed in this conflict. Evidence was reported of some of the most heinous acts, including executions, torture and sexual violence. Only last week, members of the European Parliament, in co-operation with Ukraine and the international community, pushed for the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russian leadership. It is no longer enough to condemn. We must act, as one international community, to hold Russia to account for the awful crimes that it has committed during this war.
I recognise the swift actions of the UK Government in providing military equipment. What has been remarkable over the course of the conflict has been the united and unwavering show of support from the European Union and NATO to the people of Ukraine, which Putin did not anticipate. He had calculated, in a strategic blunder, that they would divide and let him have a swift victory. Military diplomacy by Europe has never been easy, but, however awkward it can seem, it is working. However, we must go further. Internationally, we have seen sanctions against Russia, humanitarian and military support, and a commitment to support refugees fleeing the war.
The importance of the united, strong and clear support for Ukraine was powerfully recognised by President Zelenskyy in his address to EU leaders in Brussels this month. At the address, the European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, said to President Zelenskyy:
“We understand that you are fighting not only for your values, but for ours”.
The war in Ukraine has also highlighted the need for many in Europe to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels. The Versailles declaration of March 2022 marked the agreement of EU leaders to phase out the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible. Since then, the EU has imposed a ban on Russian crude oil and petroleum products.
In the longer term, Scotland has a role to play. For many years, I advised EU capitals that a switch to green renewable energy, exported from the north of Europe to the south, would remove reliance on Russian gas, and that must now become a reality in order to provide the necessary energy security.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the horrific war in Ukraine, let us condemn Russia and its illegal war and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. To them, we say: although we may have no military equipment might to offer you, we have the might of our care and compassion for the Ukrainian people in our homes, and the might of belief that your culture matters and that your freedom is also our freedom.
15:46