Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has raised reports of Russian police searching the homes of investigative journalists with his Russian counterpart.

The deteriorating human rights situation in Russia is deeply concerning, in particular the crackdown on independent media outlets and journalists. We have previously expressed our deep concerns about the use of Russia's legislation on "undesirable organisations" and "foreign agents" to suppress dissenting voices at the Council of Europe, OSCE, and UN Human Rights Council, and directly with the Russian government. The Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the United Kingdom's commitment to freedom of expression and supporting independent media to the Russian Foreign Minister in June. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continues to urge the Russian authorities, at all levels of engagement, to uphold the safety of all journalists in accordance with the international human rights commitments they have signed up to.