Lord Tugendhat
Main Page: Lord Tugendhat (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Tugendhat's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(12 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Howell of Guildford
I do not think there have. This is a matter that appeared in the public press some weeks ago but I am not aware of it coming up in the agenda of our discussions with the Turkish Government. I may be wrong about that, but I certainly have no reports in my briefing on that particular issue.
Lord Tugendhat
My Lords, does the Minister agree that a major motivation for the Russian and Chinese vetoes is their fear of internal dissent in their own countries and of international eyes being cast upon their own misdeeds?
Lord Howell of Guildford
That is absolutely true. My noble friend is completely correct that both Governments have problems—shall we put it like that—with certain areas that are seeking either secession or a degree of autonomy that they do not want to accept, and they have this fear of fragmentation of their own national boundaries. That is a very strong motivation. On top of that, as I said earlier, Russia has huge interests in Syria, including its colossal naval base at Tartus.