Scotland must redouble its efforts sever business ties with Vladimir Putin's Russia
In their efforts to defend their country, Ukrainians are also defending freedom and democracy from Russian aggression
In the early hours of Friday, Russian forces fired hundreds of drones and missiles at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. While many were shot down, six people were killed and 30 injured, including two children and a pregnant woman.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes had been targeted at residential areas and energy facilities. Damage in the Desnyansky area of the city knocked out district home heating systems at a time when temperatures are only a little above freezing.
However, Zelensky added that Ukraine was continuing to fight back and the efforts of their defence forces, coupled with “world sanctions and political pressure on Russia”, were working.
Deeply disappointing
With this in mind, and more than three-and-a-half years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is deeply disappointing to learn that a Scottish firm called Seapeak Maritime Glasgow is involved in transporting millions of tonnes of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG).
It is Russia’s oil and gas revenues that are funding Putin’s war, helping to pay for the missiles that cause death and destruction in Ukraine on a regular basis.
What Seapeak is doing is not a breach of sanctions. And, it must be said, many European democracies have found it hard to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian fossil fuels in one way or another. Companies also have duties to their owners and to their employees.
However, all firms that do business with Russia, in any way, should be examining their consciences and urgently considering ways to extricate themselves from their situation. Other companies able to offer alternative work which would help them do this may wish to consider making what could be a life-saving business deal.
A modern-day Blitz
Thankfully, the UK Government is drawing up plans for a maritime services ban on Russian LNG exports to third countries, which will be phased in over next year in coordination with other European countries. We urge them all to act as swiftly as possible.
Ukraine is not a distant conflict in a ‘far away land of which we know little’, to paraphrase Neville Chamberlain. In making their brave stand against the Russian invaders, Ukrainians are defending the frontline of freedom and democracy against tyranny.
As their cities endure a modern-day Blitz and Putin probes the defences of Nato countries like Poland, we in Scotland and the UK must do our bit to help Ukraine in what is their darkest and longest hour.
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