Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions (a) he, (b) his Ministers and (c) his officials have had with representatives of (i) Ukraine and (ii) the Russian Federation on the escalating tensions on the border between those two countries.

Russia's build-up of military forces near the Ukrainian border and within illegally annexed Crimea indicates a troubling escalation in its ongoing campaign of aggression towards Ukraine and its militarisation of the illegally annexed peninsula.

There has been regular Ministerial and senior official level engagement with the Government of Ukraine and with our allies on this issue. The Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary spoke to their Ukrainian counterparts on 2 April and the Prime Minister had discussions with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on 5 April to assure them of the UK's unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

As a fellow Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, we engage directly with Russia on matters of international peace and security, including Ukraine. We continue to raise our concerns with the Russian government at every opportunity. On 15 April, the National Security Adviser spoke to his Russian counterpart, and the FCDO Permanent Under Secretary reiterated our concerns to the Russian Ambassador in London on the same day. Our Ambassador in Moscow has spoken to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mostly recently on 16 April, to express our deep concern about the build-up of Russian troops and the Ukrainian border, to reiterate our call for Russia to de-escalate, and to underline our support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We will continue working closely with partners to monitor the situation, and consider all options.