Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2023
I declare an interest as a member of the cross-party group on Ukraine. I welcome the comments about Colin Beattie setting that up in the Parliament. I am also the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw.
We have a project in North Lanarkshire that has seen more than 80 families come to my constituency to be welcomed into our community, and I commend the work of North Lanarkshire Council. Those families were not only provided with accommodation; that accommodation was fully furnished. There were starter packs and everything that they would need in respect of white goods and support services. Two towers that were earmarked to be demolished by the council were taken over. They have come back into use for the Ukrainian families, who are very welcome there.
Of course, thousands of people have lost their lives and many more have lost their livelihoods because of the Russian military assault. However, Putin is not just about occupation; he is intent on destroying Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian identity and the Ukrainian language in order to eradicate exactly what it means to be Ukrainian. Critical infrastructure has been razed. Make no mistake: what is happening is cultural imperialism. Theatres, places of worship and amenities for public good have been levelled by Russian shelling. Museums have been emptied of priceless treasures.
The invasion is rooted in centuries of persecution. The Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture have been oppressed throughout history. In the early 18th century, Peter I sought to eliminate the idea of a separate Ukrainian state. He issued a decree against the use of Ukrainian in religious texts and books. Peter II ordered the rewriting of the state regulations into Russian. Under Catherine II, churches across the Russian empire were ordered to conduct services in Russian.
Following the end of the Russian empire, Ukraine was absorbed into the Soviet Union. The Stalinist purges saw political dissidents—artists, writers and scientists—summarily sentenced and executed. Ukrainian culture was cynically positioned as rural and outdated, and attempts to assert independence were violently quashed.
Only a few short weeks ago, we debated in the chamber the horrors of the Holodomor. Some people still deny what happened during that dark period, but we cannot deny it, and we should not deny what is happening today.
The invasion draws from a legacy of imperial subjugation that seeks to erase Ukrainians. In 2021, the Russian leader published an article in which it was claimed that Ukraine has never existed and that Ukrainians and Russians are one people—one whole. Putin’s supporters have been radicalised by the imperialist ideals of their historical predecessors. It is important to note that those ideals are opposed vociferously by swathes of the Russian population.
After the invasion in 2022, troops began to confiscate and destroy Ukrainian history and fiction books amidst the bombardment of modern artillery. Grim historical goals remain the same.
In August 2022, I was honoured to host in the Parliament a cultural leadership dialogue with the Edinburgh International Culture Summit and the Ukrainian Institute. We brought together political and cultural leaders from countries that share a strong interest in strengthening Ukraine’s international standing and supporting Ukrainian culture. If Ukraine is to continue, we must reach out now and do everything that we can to support the Ukrainian people and their culture at this time.
17:09