§ Sir Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the meetings, their dates and the officials involved at which the issue of human rights abuses in Chechnya were raised by his Government with Russia(a) prior to 11 September 2001, and (b) since 11 September 2001; and if he will make a statement. [151678]
§ Mr. StrawThe breadth of UK-Russia bilateral relations are such that to provide detailed information on all meetings before and after September 2001 would involve disproportionate cost and in many cases would not be possible.
The issue of Chechnya has been raised with the Russians at Prime Ministerial, ministerial and official level since September 2001. High-level bilateral meetings over last year included during Putin's State Visit in June, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (Mr. Rammell) meeting with the Russian ambassador in October, and during the Russian ambassador's separate meeting with the Prime Minister's Foreign Policy Adviser in October. We have also supported the numerous EU statements since September 2001 on the human rights situation there. As the right hon. Gentlemen would expect, Chechnya also featured in our annual Human Rights talks with the Russians in 2001, 2002, 2003 and will no doubt be raised in this year's talks.