Lord Callanan (Con)

My Lords, Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine is an indefensible act of aggression. The previous Government were both steadfast and consistent in their support for Ukraine and their opposition to the invasion and I am grateful that the current Government have continued that policy. With the support of the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, whose comments I agree with, that makes all three major parties in the UK united in this endeavour, although we sometimes have differences on points of detail. It is in that context that I support the Government’s policy of tough sanctions against the Russian state and individuals linked to the Russian war machine. We will always welcome that approach and support the Government in this. These sanctions are the right step and we must continue to keep them under review to ensure that they are appropriately tough and have the proper effect of putting pressure on Putin to bring an end to the invasion, just when it looks as though Ukraine could be making some progress, as the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said; I hope that is the case. Like him, I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the brave men and women of the Royal Marines, the RAF and the Royal Navy, as well as the NCA officers, for their skilful seizure this weekend of the Russian shadow fleet vessel, “Smyrtos”. The Government are right to have taken this action. Russia’s shadow fleet should not be permitted to operate with impunity. The permission for this action was originally announced more than three months ago, and many of us have been wondering why the announcement was made then but nothing happened. It is estimated that 200 to 300 tankers have gone through the English Channel since then, without being apprehended. It is nice to see that one has now been stopped. Can the Minister update the Committee on whether further actions will be permitted? What will happen to other tankers that are apparently on their way towards the channel at the moment? I believe that some have turned back. We support the Government’s policy of sanctions against Russia, although, like the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, we have raised concerns that Ministers have temporarily approved the purchase of Russian oil products refined in third-party countries. Like my noble friend Lord Lancaster, we are concerned about this. The Government have now said that they will keep this under review every two weeks, which is welcome, but we would like to see these licences ended as soon as possible. In her introduction, the Minister said that the temporary licence for phasing in the ban will expire by 1 January 2027. It is good that the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, has put the pressure on to enable that to happen—I support that—but could the Minister reply to the question that I asked her earlier, in the Chamber, about whether that could be brought forward if circumstances change, such as if the Strait of Hormuz were reopened? What assessment have the Government made of the impact of this licence on Russia’s finances? It is surely not right that the UK is buying oil products derived from crude oil originating in Russia. Does the Minister accept that this feels like a softening of our position on Russian oil? We would like to see these sanctions toughened up and the temporary licences ended as quickly as possible. I look forward to the Minister’s answers to the questions asked today.