MPs call for tough line on Russia
By politics.co.uk staff
Relations with Moscow should be characterised by hard realities rather than “shared values”, according to a committee of MPs.
The defence committee’s report on Russia, triggered by concerns from some commentators that its increasingly confrontational foreign policy risks a new cold war, makes clear London should maintain its robust approach to Moscow.
It says Russia should be denied its perennial demands to a ‘sphere of influence’ in the former Soviet states because Britain’s interests are best served through a stable European Union.
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: “The government should adopt a hard-headed approach to engagement with Russia, based on the reality of Russia’s foreign policy rather than abstract and misleading notions of shared values.”
Britain remains committed to working with Russia because of the strong business links between the two countries. Moscow is a critical ally on issues of shared concern like tackling terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change.
But that does not mean Russia’s military actions in Georgia last summer are not “unacceptable”, the report notes.
“The government should send a strong message to Russia that it needs to withdraw its military forces from Georgian territory to its pre-conflict positions,” Mr Arbuthnot added.
