By IRNA,
London : Europe Minister David Lidington has rejected a call from his predecessor Chris Bryant to prevent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from visiting Britain next week following Moscow’s ban on Guardian correspondent Luke Harding.
But Lidington insisted that the UK was “unafraid to raise very clearly in our discussions with Russian Ministers and officials issues on which we disagree, and disagree strongly.”
“The Foreign Secretary will raise both the broader human rights concerns and, as appropriate, the case of Mr Harding and, indeed, other individual cases-during his discussions with Mr Lavrov when they meet next week,” he said.
The call for the UK government to cancel the Russian foreign minister’s visit was made by Bryant during an emergency debate in parliament on Tuesday after the Guardian reported that its Moscow correspondent had not been allowed to return at the weekend.
“Will they make clear that Mr Lavrov is not welcome in this country while British journalists are excluded from Russia?” Labour’s former Europe minister and current shadow constitutional reform minister said.
“Will they emphasise that, as a member of the Council of Europe, Russia must ensure the freedom of the press within its borders?” he also demanded.
During the debate, Conservative MP Robert Halfon went as far as accusing Russia of “rapidly becoming a rogue state.” His colleague Mark Pritchard also warned Russia was damaging its international image at a time it is seeking to join the World Trade Organisation.
Veteran Labour MP Paul Flynn further said it is “certainly true that Russia has become more oppressive and that it does not respect the agreements that it has signed”.
Harding’s refused entry comes after tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between the two countries in December following failed attempts made by Hague to improve relations, which have been soured since the assassination of a former KGB agent in London in 2006.
Lidington confirmed that Prime Minister David Cameron was seeking to make his first visit to Moscow later this year and said that he can certainly assure MPs that he “will raise human rights issues when he talks to Russian leaders” wherever he meets them.