HC Deb 27 November 1991 vol 199 cc510-1W
Mr. Temple-Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next meets the President of the Russian Republic, if he will discuss the proposals to authorise individual defence equipment factories located within the Republic to sell weapons and other military equipment on the open market; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has no plans to meet President Yeltsin in the immediate future. The Russian republic has the right to export weapons. We should expect it to abide by the Soviet Union's international obligations and guidelines on conventional arms exports agreed by the permanent members of the Security Council at their meeting in London on 17–18 October. These guidelines include observance of restraint and assessment of recipient countries' needs for legitimate self-defence.