Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

There are long queues outside the Royal Academy in London to see works of art from Russia. Many French paintings were collected by Russian connoisseurs before the Revolution. Of course some of their descendants are not happy, as their worth is enormous. But it is a magnificent exhibition.

We have a problem. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the attempt to get Russia to send Andrei Lugovoi to London to face trial, the asylum granted here to Boris Berezovsky and a Chechen guerrilla leader… all these have contributed to a very poor bilateral relationship.

Russia is now the eighth largest economy in the world, is increasingly assertive, and that assertiveness is domestically very popular, and is personified by Vladimir Putin. What with the closures of British Council offices and other irritants, of course our Foreign Office is to say the least unhappy. However I doubt that the sight of David Miliband in full flight on the subject exactly filled the Kremlin with fear.

Europe has virtually no energy security, and Russia is awash with natural gas. Their ever increasing wealth may well be deployed in purchasing British companies, and some may have strategic implications. The point is; we cannot wish Russia away. It has a different viewpoint on Iran and Serbia than we do, and certainly would strongly oppose Ukraine, for example, ever joining NATO.

The current stand off is in nobody’s interests. Of course we need to defend robustly our values but huffing and puffing may be self-satisfying, but little else.

I hope some cool heads are busily trying to work through this problem in our long term national interest. For as long as energy prices are high, so will Russia be a big player on the world scene, warts and all.   

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko is indeed murky. My son, who is studying Russian at university, tells me that two years ago he invited Mr Litvinenko to be a guest at the school’s Slav Society. What he remembers most about the visit was the passionate attachment which the former Russian spy had for this country, and his gratitude at being allowed to live here. He said he flew a Union flag outside his house.

We have a proud tradition of giving asylum to people whose lives are at risk in their home countries. It is light years away from the bureaucratic confusions that surround economic migrants versus genuine asylum seekers. In the public’s mind there is a clear distinction which in recent years has been muddied by the failure of this Government to deal with the flagrant abuses in the current system.