Russia has been presented as one of the bad guys in the coverage of the turmoil in Ukraine. But today, Sir Menzies Campbell told the Commons that the one thing that linked the three countries mentioned in William Hague’s urgent statement on Ukraine, Syria and Iran was that ‘progress, however limited, was made as a result of engagement with Russia’.
Hague’s reply made clear that bad guy or not, the UK needs to continue engaging with Russia:
‘This is a very important point and again this is why the Prime Minister spoke to President Putin on Friday, why I have spoken to Foreign Minister Lavrov today, and agreed to speak again in the near future.
‘It is very important that we present this correctly, we are seeking a democratic and free future for Ukraine to make its own decisions and we believe that closer economic links between the Ukraine and the European Union can be beneficial to that entire region, including to Russia.
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