Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I noted earlier, this murder is an appalling act that must be fully and effectively investigated. I believe a failure to find and prosecute his killers will raise serious questions about the criminal justice system in Russia. As I have said already, a culture if impunity must not be allowed to develop in Russia and cannot be tolerated.

With regard to Ukraine, I agree with the Senator. The package of measures agreed at Minsk on 12 February and signed by the parties to the conflict offers hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine, which has already claimed 6,000 lives and forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes.

I will be in Riga later this week and, as always, Ireland will actively contribute towards finding a resolution. In this regard I stress the need to have a non-military solution to the situation in Ukraine. All sides must take immediate and concrete steps to honour the commitments they signed up to in Minsk. It is deeds, not words, that will ultimately demonstrate the extent to which the separatists and their Russian backers are genuinely interested in agreeing a peaceful settlement.

The EU sanctions are having an impact. I assure Senator Bradford that the callous and brutal murder of an opposition leader as occurred in Moscow in the early hours of last Saturday is to be utterly condemned. I do not believe any democrat would do other than condemn this in the most forceful terms and let the Russian authorities know that this is intolerable. I thank the Senator for raising the issue this afternoon.