Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. As a society, we need better relations with Russia on a political, social and economic basis, which would be to the benefit of both countries and the European Union. There is great potential to grow trade for the benefit of Ireland, the European Union and Russia. However, there is one thing from which the European Union and this country cannot flinch, that is, being strong advocates of the need for democratic reforms in Russia and, as the late Mr. Nemtsov was, being active as a strong advocate for a more open and tolerant Russia. What we have seen in recent times is not acceptable. The Government, at head of Government and ministerial level, must convey in the strongest possible manner to the Russian authorities that what has been happening is not acceptable. There must be no stone left unturned to bring to justice those who carried out the hideous murder of an excellent man who was doing important political work in difficult circumstances.

The most important lesson we can learn from the brutal killing of Mr. Nemtsov is that we can no longer ignore what is happening in Russia. We can no longer say it has no impact on us. We can no longer turn a blind eye when another political opponent of the current regime is silenced or when more innocent victims are killed in Ukraine or elsewhere. We have seen recent reports on concerns in some of the other Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Norway has also expressed concerns about Russian aggression. The Government and our partners in the European Union must say loud and clear that this is not acceptable and that if Russia continues these actions, we will not tolerate them. That message must be sent clearly to President Putin and his government. We cannot pretend that the Russian Government and President are our allies. Carrying out actions that have the characteristics of enemy actions makes a state an enemy. A change in policy by President Putin and his government is needed to build better relations with the European Union and the rest of the world. What happened last weekend was an appalling attack on an innocent man which resulted in the loss of life. It was also an attack on democracy.

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