Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies they are pursuing to reduce current tensions with Russia.

The Government is clear that we must maintain dialogue with Russia, to avoid misunderstanding and escalation. The Prime Minister, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), was clear in his phone call with President Putin last month that although we continue to have deep differences over issues such as Ukraine, the UK and Russia share mutual interests on certain global security dossiers such as Syria, combating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and working towards a nuclear deal with Iran. We will look to work together on such matters whilst maintaining our firm position that Russia’s aggressive and destabilising actions in Ukraine are unacceptable.