Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government has made to Russia on the breaking of the ceasefire in Aleppo.

Sir Alan Duncan

The UK supported the Governments of France and Spain in their efforts to pass a UN Security Council Resolution on 8th October, calling for an immediate end to the bombardment of Aleppo. This resolution was vetoed by Russia. The UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations condemned Russia’s use of the veto in the strongest possible terms, as "a cynical abuse of the privileges and responsibilities of permanent membership". We have called repeatedly on Russia at the highest levels to implement a ceasefire in Syria, and to use its influence to deliver this. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) raised his concerns directly with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov during their meeting on 21 September, and the Prime Minister discussed the situation in Syria with President Putin on 4 September at the G20 Summit. I also refer the Hon. Member to the Foreign Secretary’s statement of 11 October (Hansard 11 October 2016, Column 165).