Sara Britcliffe

AS you will all be aware, on the 24th February, Russia launched military action against Ukraine, with forces crossing into the country from Belarus in the north, Russia in the east and Crimea in the south.

This invasion was justified by President Putin as an act of self-defence. But, as the Ukrainian Government has made clear, it is really an act of aggression against another sovereign country and the United Kingdom stands with Ukraine.

Rightly, Russia’s actions have caused international condemnation and have resulted in sanctions being imposed. Ukraine has also continued to resist the invasion at huge cost to their people. My heart goes out to every family who has lost a loved one and to everyone who has been killed or injured due to the Russian aggression.

Not since the end of the Cold War, more than three decades ago, has the situation in Europe been so tense or so grave. I know people across Hyndburn and Haslingden are rightly concerned about the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequences which may be felt in the months ahead.

Western nations, including the UK, have set-out their support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and its right to choose its friends and security partnerships. Russia has been warned military aggression comes with economic and political consequences and the sanctions have started to hit allies of President Putin.

This has included banning British citizens and businesses from using the Russian Central Bank, freezing the assets of the Central Bank to prevent them from accessing overseas reserves and removing selected Russian banks from the Swift messaging system.

The UK Government also announced laws to stop Russian companies and the Russian Government from using the UK’s markets to borrow money or raise finance and the end of exports of high-tech items and oil refinery equipment.

There is also now a limit on deposits Russians can make to UK bank accounts and a freezing of assets of many members of the Russian regime. The EU has also announced a ban on an Russian flights, meaning they are unable to fly over any EU country or use their airports and a planned ban on Russia’s state-owned news outlets Sputnik and Russia Today.

At the same time as increasing pressure on Russian leaders, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation have also been underway. A series of meetings between Russia, NATO and the

Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were held in January. Since the invasion started, efforts have been made to try and arrange a summit between the Russians and Ukrainians, possibly near the border with Belarus. At the time of writing, no progress has been made but I am hopeful that talks will be successful and that we can see an end to the conflict as soon as possible.

But as a precaution, NATO allies have moved to reinforce the defences in eastern Europe by deploying additional ships, fighter aircraft and troops to the region. My understanding is discussions are ongoing about the possibility of deploying additional battlegroups in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. When it comes to European conflict, our minds always tend to draw on examples from the First or Second World Wars. But this situation is very different. Militarily, culturally and economically Russia (and the rest of us) are in a very different place to where we were in 1939 or 1914. We need Putin to see the folly of his current actions and pull back. Then a full and frank negotiation can be carried out and we can restore peace in Europe.