James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether the recent elections in Russia were free and fair; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46912/21]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I want to ask about the recent elections in Russia. I am shocked and appalled at the increasing despotism of the Russian Government, and even more so of its premier, in the ongoing imprisonment and suppression of opponents, including Alexei Navalny; its support of puppet regimes in eastern Europe; its annexation of territory, including Crimea, on European borders; its interference with elections elsewhere; and its own elections now appearing to be discredited. What is the Minister's view on those events?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Russian Federation held state Duma, regional and local elections from 17 September to 19 September. On 24 September, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation declared that the United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, had retained its parliamentary majority in the state Duma. I regret that independent and impartial election monitoring was not facilitated by the Russian Government to a satisfactory extent. The decision to restrict severely the size and format of an international OSCE and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR, election observation mission prevented its deployment as an effective and credible observer. Ireland fully aligns with the declaration issued on 20 September on behalf of the EU by the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, regretting this decision by the Russian Government. The EU declaration also noted an increased crackdown on opposition politicians, civil society organisations, independent media outlets, and journalists. As EU leaders, we called on the Russian Federation to abide by the commitments it has made on the protection of human rights and democratic values.

Several independent reports indicate an intensified electoral crackdown, but space for civil society, media freedom and political opposition has been shrinking for years. The treatment of Alexei Navalny, still detained in a penal colony, is a clear example of this. Ireland and our EU partners have repeatedly called for Mr. Navalny's release. Ireland also does not recognise Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and does not recognise the so-called elections held there. I also regret Russia's decision to involve residents of the non-government controlled territories of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the elections.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad to hear the Minister's response and it is worth traversing some of those events. In St. Petersburg, not only did we see multiple buses coaching people who in many cases were unidentified to polling stations but we had the phenomenon of doppelganger candidates where the lead opposition candidate was suddenly shadowed on the ballot paper with two or three candidates of extremely similar names, which deliberately caused mass confusion.

The Minister referred to the issue of election monitors being prohibited from entering the country, or certainly being very restricted, meaning they had no meaningful engagement. Also of particular concern are the events in Moscow, the capital city, which has a larger liberal and urban electorate, and where the online polling was first delayed and then flipped in terms of what had been the projections suddenly to return pro-Kremlin numbers. The mayor of Moscow, who was responsible for the events, was seen on a podium chanting Putin's name shortly afterwards.

There has been a school of thought that, post the Cold War, the West was a little overly triumphalist and that contributed to a resurgence of Russian patriotism. Perhaps now, however, we need to assert ourselves again and the West needs to get involved again. Through the Security Council, the European Council or other avenues open to Ireland, we need to make the case for democracy in Russia, as elsewhere.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We do, but being listened to is a different question. We do have to have a relationship with Russia, but we also have to be blunt and consistent in our message, and that message needs to be collective within the EU. It is no secret that Russia looks to develop bilateral relationships with individual EU member states. We need to ensure a collective approach from the EU towards developing a more constructive relationship with Russia on the basis of key principles that we have outlined and reaffirmed many times.

It is important to say that the Government will continue to promote constructive and open engagement with our Russian counterparts. That makes sense. I met with Foreign Minister Lavrov last week in New York, where we had a positive engagement on a series of issues related to the Security Council. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and we need to work with it on many issues. Most of the time we ended up talking about Afghanistan. The diplomacy and foreign policy challenge is to have relationships with states, even though you may fundamentally disagree with them on certain matters, to make things happen, particularly in a setting such as the Security Council.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad to hear the Minister is having those discussions with the Kremlin or its foreign minister. I am aware Russia is permanently represented on the Security Council. We have to use whatever influence we have. I appreciate we may get a deaf ear at times, but it is important we seize the opportunity on the Security Council to push that agenda as far as we can.

The other point I will make as to what we can control is that it was especially shameful that Apple and Google - Telegram also, but perhaps it is a less overt and less commercial multinational - collaborated in this deceit because they removed the Navalny smart voting app from the platforms in Russia a week before the election. They colluded in the declaration of Navalny's organisation as extremist and then effectively took instructions from the Kremlin to deactivate those apps. I have written to Deputy Flanagan, as Chairman of the foreign affairs committee, to request that Apple and Google come before our committee to explain those actions. I am particularly concerned, given what we have seen in other votes, not least Brexit and the American elections, about the interference of social media and their platforms in free and fair elections, that these companies seem to have learned no lessons and are now actually propagating this and colluding with Russia. It is especially abhorrent, and I hope these companies come before the foreign affairs committee and that the Government will support me in seeking to take them to task.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the Apple and Google issue, before polling began, Apple and Google removed jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's smart voting app from the iOS and Android stores, respectively. Ireland has no special sight of or role in adjudicating on the decisions of multinational companies in different jurisdictions. I do not have access to all the information and considerations which led Apple and Google to make the decisions they did. I am sure, however, that the well-being and safety of their local staff ranked highly in their considerations. The focus should be on the Russian Government and on the laws and intimidating behaviour which allowed it to exercise censorship across a wide variety of media during the elections. Individual companies are placed in difficult positions because of this unacceptable shrinking of media freedom and civil society space. I am not excusing it; I am just saying we do not know the full facts. Certainly, I do not. Perhaps the Deputy has more facts than I have. As a founding member of the Freedom Online Coalition, Ireland believes the human rights we enjoy must be protected online. The Internet and social media have revolutionised the free flow of information and knowledge and have played an important role in documenting human rights violations and abuses.