Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The point I want to make is that this simplification of the Ukrainian issue as being a kind of Tymoshenko-Yanukovych, party of the regions conflict is wrong. What efforts is the European Union making to convey to the Eastern wing, the Russian speaking half, that we do not seek to dominate it and that we recognise a unitary state and that we will have to work overtime to woo it towards the West?

Some Minister, perhaps the Tánaiste himself, will travel to Russia in January. We got a commitment when we were debating the sensitive issue of the Magnitsky case that this would be raised under the issue of human rights the next time we were dealing with the Russians. Will the Minister give us a commitment that will be done? Subsequent to that case, we have concerns regarding the obscene treatment of gay and lesbian people.

I agree we should be concerned about what is happening and about the diplomacy of the Russians. The Minister mentioned Georgia and Moldova. The Georgians should thank their lucky stars - they should be on their hands and knees thanking the Russians for not going all the way to Tbilisi when it could well have done so on the basis Georgia provoked the Russian bear. Moldova is an incredibly weak and poor country that is sandwiched between Romania and the Ukraine. The Ukrainian issue is key, not just in regard to our influence in the region, but to give the stability required to the likes of Moldova. We have a good relationship with Romania.

Is Russian diplomacy winning the day? It seems to have outskilled the West on a number of issues recently. Was it in the Iranian talks it did so? I cannot quite remember whether it was Iran or some other country. In fact it was Syria. The Russians were diplomatically astute and took the West by surprise. We have a lot in common with Russia in the sense that it is strongly anti-terrorist and has worked closely with Europe on a number of issues. The Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov, could be included in discussions. The art of negotiation is in arriving at a conclusion to these complex issues. However, I get the feeling that, in regard to Ukraine in particular, we see it as a West-East issue. We do not see it as a unitary state, but as a divided state.