Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 10 February 2023.

Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has visited Brunei and Thailand this week, with talks focusing on trade, security and science.

As the UK seeks to deepen its ties with countries across Southeast Asia, Minister for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan spent the week in Brunei and Thailand to build closer links on trade, security and science.

In Bangkok, the Minister hosted humanitarian groups for discussions about the situation in neighbouring Myanmar. The crisis has caused hundreds of thousands of victims to be displaced, including over the border into Thailand, fleeing the military junta’s violence.

The UK is one of the largest humanitarian donors with long-established programmes in the southeast of Myanmar and along the Thai border, supporting refugees with healthcare, shelter and sanitation.

Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:

As two key members of ASEAN, Brunei and Thailand are vital partners for the UK as we deepen our ties across Southeast Asia.

From trade and tech to science and security, we are determined to do more together, reaping the benefits at home and across the region”.

While in the Thai capital, the Minister also met her counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Dr Vijavat Isarabhakdi. Topics covered pressing regional and global issues.

Thailand is an essential partner for the UK, with 2-way trade standing at over £5 billion, with more than 5,000 UK businesses exporting to Thailand, benefiting both countries. The Government also recently signed a new partnership with Thailand to share expertise of genome sequencing, collaborate in research and education, and help prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases.

Earlier in the week, the Minister was in Brunei for the UK-Brunei Strategic Dialogue alongside Second Foreign Minister Dato Erywan. The Minister was also granted an audience with His Majesty the Sultan.

The Minister saw work to conserve Brunei’s tropical rainforests in action with a visit to the Kuala Belalong Field Centre, established during a joint expedition of the UK’s Royal Geographical Society and the University of Brunei Darussalam. During the visit the Minister met British researchers working side-by-side with their Bruneian counterparts to study and conserve the rainforest’s diverse wildlife.

The Indo-Pacific is home to likeminded partners with whom the UK shares fundamental beliefs in peace and democracy as well as many of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The region is critical to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment to economic growth and building prosperity, with a stronger economy at home forming the foundation of the UK’s strength abroad.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 10 February 2023.

Deputy Ambassador Brown says Russia has waged a campaign of disinformation throughout the build up to their illegal invasion and in the months since.

Thank you, Mr Chair. On Monday, a Moscow court sentenced Russian journalist Veronika Belotserkovskaya in absentia to nine years in prison for spreading supposed “fakes” about the Russian army’s actions in Ukraine.  Therefore our statement will focus on Russian disinformation. On the distractions and lies Russia sought to proliferate in the build up to its illegal invasion and in the months since.

Ms Belotserkovskaya was convicted for her reporting of human rights abuses by the Russian armed forces against civilians, in Bucha and Mariupol.

Russia’s persecution of journalists for reporting on the war contradicts the 2018 OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on Safety of Journalists. This is a commitment that all participating States have freely signed up to in order to provide a safe, enabling environment for journalists, ensuring we fully comply with international human rights law and OSCE Commitments.  Ms Belotserkovskaya’s sentencing is just the latest in a series of Russian attempts to suppress the truth. When the Russian state punishes journalists who seek out the truth, it ceases to have any grasp of reality.

A year ago, on the 20th January, in this very room, the Russian Delegation claimed that “the myth of Russia’s alleged ‘imminent invasion’ has been hyped up”.

On the 3 February our colleagues stated that the West was “speculating obsessively about an alleged impending Russian invasion” which were “only unsubstantiated conjectures”. On the 10th February, they said such claims were ‘mythical’.

On the 17 February our colleagues said the West had “spread fake information and distorted the real state of affairs”. Russia, in contrast, “would keep on calling for effective dialogue” as “conflict in eastern Ukraine can and must be stopped”.

On the 21 February, they stressed that “the key to lasting peace, the restoration of civil accord in Ukraine and the defusing of the tension around this country lies in the implementation of the Minsk agreements in good faith”.

That very evening the Russian Federation contradicted itself in recognising Luhansk and Donetsk as so-called “independent states”, thereby abandoning the same Minsk agreements they had, just hours ago, claimed were the key to peace.

And on 24 February, having denied, week in, week out, their true intentions, Russia launched its horrific invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory – a fellow participating State of the OSCE. Contravening the Helsinki Final Act and trampling on the foundational commitments of this organisation.

Mr Chair, Russia waged a campaign of disinformation throughout the build up to their illegal invasion.  A campaign that they persist in pursuing to this day. This campaign of disinformation is recorded in the archives for posterity. No amount of disinformation can rewrite Russia’s lies and deceit.

Nor can they silence the international community, as they have tried to silence their own country. Investigations by ODIHR, the Moscow Mechanism and the UN following the invasion attest to the Kremlin’s continued failure to conceal its cruelty.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine’s October 2022 report details just some of the horrors of Russia’s invasion. Civilians shot at while fleeing Russian armed forces; summary executions, torture and sexual violence in areas under temporary Russian control. The list goes on and on. There is no doubt as to Russia’s culpability for atrocities and human rights violations carried out in Ukraine. We will hold perpetrators to account for the atrocities and war crimes they have committed. The truth will out.

Mr Chair, in the face of a concerted Russian disinformation campaign, one thing is certain. The United Kingdom will continue support those seeking the truth. President Zelenskyy’s visit to the UK is a testament to the unbreakable friendship between our two countries. Our commitments announced during the visit represent a long-term pledge to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine, ensuring our Ukrainian friends have the support they need to defend their territorial integrity, in the face of Russia’s illegal invasion, for as long as it takes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 9 February 2023.

Statement delivered by Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley at the UN Security Council briefing on counter terrorism.

Thank you, Under Secretary General Voronkov, Acting Executive Director Chen and Franziska Praxl, for your informative briefings. We are grateful to the UN for all its efforts in the fight against terrorism.

Last year, the Daesh terror campaign was dealt a severe blow by the death of two of its leaders.

But despite this, the threat from Daesh and its affiliates continues to grow and to evolve as we’ve heard today.

A resurgence of Daesh core in Syria and Iraq remains a significant danger. We need to maintain our resolve, including through the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh.

In 2022, for the first time in Daesh’s history, the majority of Daesh attacks took place outside their core focus of Syria and Iraq.

We have a collective responsibility as UN members to use all the legal tools and levers at our disposal to counter this threat.

In Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) continues to show it has the capacity to carry out high profile attacks on civilian and international targets inside the country, and to use it as a base to encourage attacks abroad.

This Council must continue to demand of the Taliban that Afghan territory does not provide a shelter for terrorist groups.

We are also deeply concerned about the spread of the Daesh through its affiliates across Africa.

Instability, famine and climate-related crises are creating conditions that are being exploited by terrorist groups.

We must rally the UN system behind an approach that tackles the drivers of these conditions.

The Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace is an opportunity to galvanise this work.

We must also use UN sanctions regimes rigorously to prevent the proliferation to terrorist groups and to choke off their access to finance.

There is one other point to note in all of this: the Secretary-General’s report is clear that the presence of non-state armed groups is a destabilising factor. Groups like Wagner are not the answer.

As the Secretary General also notes in his report, we must ensure all counter terrorism efforts involve civil society, are gender sensitive and anchored in human rights.

President, in closing, please allow me to underscore the UK’s commitment to working together, including in this Council, to continue the global fight against all forms of terrorism and violent extremism.

Thank you.