Hansard

I rise to offer the Government motion this afternoon the unconditional support of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. I am very grateful to the First Minister for making time for the debate.

Today, the world is a little darker, the outlook a little bleaker and our understanding of the future a little less certain. It is at moments such as this that this chamber and Parliament are at their best, when we speak with one voice in solidarity with a sovereign people who are fighting for their lives, and in condemnation of the expansionist aggression of a hostile power led by a dictator—in this case, a power that has already perpetrated the first ever use of chemical weapons on British soil.

Today, we join Parliaments around the world in expressing outrage and sharing our commitment to democracy, sovereignty and the rule of law.

As on every day in this place, we have the immense privilege and the sovereign duty to speak on behalf of the Scottish people. As part of that duty, we must now condemn the Russian aggression in the strongest possible terms and say with our shared voice that we stand firmly on the side of the Ukrainian people and against the actions of Vladimir Putin, backed by his hosts of oligarch puppets.

As I dropped my daughter off at school this morning, we stopped to watch her classmates playing in the snow. I was brought up short by the stark contrast of that scene with the threat that hangs over the head of every Ukrainian child on this day. How fortunate we are to live in a country where the parents of my daughter’s classmates do not have to wake up to the sound of air raid sirens and fear the threat of bombardment, as parents in Kyiv did this morning.

As we watch events unfold in Ukraine over the coming hours and days, let us remember that many of the thousands of innocent citizens who are endangered are children. Edinburgh, as we have heard, is twinned with Kyiv. Now, in their hour of need, that relationship must stand for something: we in Scotland must prepare to offer Ukrainians fleeing their homes safe harbour in the villages and towns of Scotland.

By violating the territorial sovereignty of a democratic state, the Russian regime has broken the international laws that have prevented multinational conflict on the continent of Europe since world war two. There is nothing trivial about the situation and nothing legitimate about it. It cannot be justified. It is a grave threat to the safety of the people of Ukraine and to the international order on which the peace of our world depends.

This week, the Russian President described Ukraine as an American colony run by a “puppet regime”. Let us be abundantly clear in this place—in this democracy—that Ukraine is a sovereign democracy with a Government legitimately elected by the Ukrainian people. With his actions today, we should be in no doubt that Putin and his gangsters are holding us all in contempt. They are treating all that we value most—liberty, democracy and the rule of international law—as if they were immaterial rules in some playground game; rules that in Putin’s mind do not apply to him.

The Conservative Government at Westminster must now hobble Russian financial interests in the UK. Such aggression will not be matched by the confiscation of a football tournament final. This week, my colleague at Westminster Layla Moran MP used parliamentary privilege to read out the names of 35 Russian oligarchs listed by Alexei Navalny as being linked to the dangerous Russian regime. We believe that it is time for the UK Government to look closely at that list. Immediate action must be taken to freeze and begin to seize the assets of anyone who is found to be one of Putin’s enablers, and then to expel them from this country. It is also more vital than ever that we do all that we can to push back against the flow of Russian disinformation, so we should all commit to not participating in broadcasts by Russia Today or any other Russian state broadcasters.

I close by recognising that there will be millions of Russians who greet today’s news with the same horror that we all do. We must recognise them, because they do not enjoy the same rights as us to demonstrate that horror freely. For 20 years, they have been denied freedom of press, freedom of expression and even the most fundamental human rights, especially in the LGBTI community. Today, let us stand in solidarity with them, too.

Above all, let us say to our brothers and sisters in the sister city of Kyiv, “We hold you in our hearts, we stand with you and we will not abandon you.”