Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 129926, what response the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas received from the Russian Ambassador to the UK on 27 February 2018 regarding the UK’s concerns about the ongoing targeting of civilians in eastern Ghouta; and whether the Government has made any further representations since that date.

On 27 February, I met with the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, stressing UK concern at the current situation in Syria, particularly the crisis in Eastern Ghouta. I urged Russia to use its influence to ensure the Syrian regime adhered to the ceasefire demanded by UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2401 to allow rapid, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and non-conditional medical evacuations which are urgently needed. The Ambassador said that Russia would implement Resolution 2401. The Foreign Secretary also wrote to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on 27 February regarding the crisis in Eastern Ghouta and urging Russia to uphold its commitments to ensure that UNSCR 2401 is implemented in full.

The UK has repeatedly urged Russia bilaterally and in other multilateral fora to use its influence to ensure that the Assad regime allows rapid, unimpeded and sustained UN-led humanitarian access to deliver urgently needed food and medical supplies to Eastern Ghouta, and adheres to the ceasefire demanded by UN Security Council Resolution 2401. The UK called for an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council on 2 March and proposed a resolution which the UN Human Rights Council adopted on 5 March calling for the full and immediate implementation of UNSCR 2401. In the UN Security Council, the UK most recently raised its concerns with Russia at the UN Secretary General's briefing to the Security Council on Resolution 2401 on 12 March.