Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----not just in history and geography but also in politics, and I am sure he is keenly concerned at the ongoing developments in that now dangerous part of the world. The Minister of State also has an interest in our national poet, W. B. Yeats, who, in the poem September 1913, referred to those who "fumble in a greasy till/And add the halfpence to the pence". The context of that phrase is amusing in the sense that this what is happening in respect of the response, or lack of response, by the European Union and the US to Mr. Putin. We are allowing commerce to win over principle and decency. I ask the Minister of State and his Government colleagues - and, in particular, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore - to ensure that Europe, in these dangerous days, take a serious, significant and proactive approach to the Russian invasion of part of Ukraine, rather than the tiptoe type of politics we have seen in recent months.
I have raised the situation in Ukraine in the House on a number of occasions in recent months because of my deep concern not only about what is happening but about what could happen. None of us was around when the Second World War started, but in the run-up to it all the experts said it could not happen. The world had seen the horrors of the First World War. The League of Nations assured everybody that there would be no repeat. There was international diplomacy and international appeasement of Hitler and Stalin, so the bully boys were facilitated. On this occasion we are witnessing a repeat. We are allowing Mr. Putin to do what he wishes. There has been a pathetic response from the West. There have been some limited sanctions providing for the disallowance of certain travel rights and certain manoeuvrings by a tiny number of Russian officials, but is this causing any scare, concern or second thoughts to Mr. Putin and his allies? Absolutely not.

They have trampled over the Crimea region and now, as we speak, the agents of Putin and his allies in Russia are hell-bent on causing mayhem, chaos and societal breakdown in another significant part of Ukraine.

We have to reflect on the question of who Mr. Putin is. He is certainly no Mikhail Gorbachev. He is a former KGB operative. Accordingly, he would not have obtained such a position without holding certain views - namely, that what an army wants, it gets. He is the person who proclaimed some years ago that the fall of the Soviet Union was one of the biggest geopolitical disasters of all time. This is his philosophical background. Politically, he is the person who has, shall we kindly say, rearranged democratic politics in Russia so he can hold the levers of power not just for one or two terms but for many. He is a strong leader who wishes to impose his will on the people of Ukraine.

The response from the EU, the United States and the West has simply been insignificant. Has it caused Mr. Putin to pause, reflect or become concerned? Absolutely not. There are billions of euro worth of Russian assets in the West which should be seized as part of the sanctions, or at least frozen, until Russian forces disengage from Ukraine. A strong signal from the West must be given that it will not allow these bully-boy tactics to prevail. Will the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, convey to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the need for a significant step-up in our, the EU’s and the general Western response to Mr. Putin and his allies. If one were a citizen of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania or Poland, one would be deeply concerned by these developments in Ukraine. One would see the dark visions from 1930s Europe. This is not a skirmish but a serious international situation which must be responded to by the West in a serious and tough fashion.