"Yesterday was a dark day for Europe.
The Russian President denied the right of a sovereign nation to
exist.
Unilaterally recognised separatist movements that he sponsors and
who seek to dismember Ukraine.
And then, under the cover darkness, sent in troops to enforce his
will.
Putin appears determined to plunge Ukraine into a wider war.
We must all stand firm in our support for Ukraine.
We support the freedom of her people and their right to determine
their own future without the gun of an imperialist held to their
head.
There can be no excuses for Russia’s actions.
And there is no justification for this aggression.
A war in Ukraine will be bloody, it will needlessly cost lives
and history will rightly scorn Putin as the aggressor.
Putin claims to fear NATO expansion but Russia faces no
conceivable threat from allied troops or from Ukraine.
What he fears is openness and democracy.
He knows that given a choice, people will not choose to live
under the rule of an erratic and violent authoritarian.
So, we must remain united and true to our values across this
House and with our NATO allies.
We must show Putin that we will not be divided.
I welcome the sanctions introduced today.
And the international community’s efforts to unite with a
collective response.
However, we must be prepared to go further.
I understand the tactic of holding back further sanctions on
Putin and his cronies.
To try and deter an invasion of the rest of Ukraine.
But a threshold has already been breached.
A sovereign nation has been invaded in a war of aggression based
on lies and fabrications.
If we do not respond with a full set of sanctions now, Putin will
once again take away the message that the benefits of aggression
outweigh the costs.
So we will work with the Prime Minister and our international
allies to ensure that more sanctions are introduced.
Russia should be excluded from financial mechanisms like Swift
and we should ban trading in Russian sovereign debt.
Putin’s campaign of misinformation should be tackled, Russia
Today should be prevented from broadcasting its propaganda around
the world.
And we should work with our European allies to ensure that the
Nordstream 2 pipeline is cancelled.
Whatever the sequencing of the sanctions this won’t be easy.
Britain must work with our European allies to handle any
disruption in the supply of energy and raw materials.
We must defend ourselves and our allies against cyber-attacks.
We must bring together the widest possible coalition of nation to
condemn this action against a sovereign UN member state.
Ukrainians are defending their own country and democracy in
Europe.
We must stand ready with further support for Ukraine to defend
itself and we must stand ready to do more to reassure and
reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
But we must also get our own house in order. The Prime Minister
said the lesson from Russia’s 2014 invasion of Donbass is that
“you can't just let Vladimir Putin get away with it."
Until now we have.
We have failed to stop the flow of illicit Russian finance into
Britain.
A cottage industry does the bidding of those linked to Putin and
Russian money has been allowed to influence our politics.
We have to admit mistakes have been made.
We have to act to rectify them.
This must be a turning point.
An end to oligarch impunity.
We need to draw a line on Companies House providing easy cover
for shell companies.
We need to ensure our anti-money laundering laws are enforced, we
need to crack down on spies.
And we have to make sure money isn’t pouring into UK politics
from abroad.
Russian aggression has now torn up both the Minsk Protocol and
the Budapest memorandum.
But even at this late hour we must pursue diplomatic routes to
prevent further conflict.
So can the Prime Minister tell us what international diplomatic
efforts are ongoing and what role will the UK have in this
process?
Mr Speaker, we know Putin’s playbook.
He seeks division so we must stay united.
He believes the benefits of aggression outweigh the consequences,
so we must take a stand.
And he believes the West is too corrupted to do the right thing,
so we must prove him wrong.
I believe we can.
And I offer the support of the Opposition in that vital
endeavour."
