POLITICS MATTERS: David Stewart recalls a telling moment in his Scottish Parliament career when he was given full insight into the strength of Russian influence in Eastern Europe and why we should open borders and embrace the people fleeing war-torn Ukraine
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Over a decade ago, the Scottish Parliament sent me to the Serbian capital Belgrade to take part in an international conference.
During my speech, I waxed lyrical about the Scottish Parliament being open and accessible and the strengths of its innovative petitions system.
At the coffee break, I spoke to one of the Serbian parliamentary leaders. I asked him about the strong Russian influence on his country and why Serbia was so keen to join the EU, but not NATO.
I still remember his reply: “Russia wants us to join the EU to have a friend at court but if we joined NATO, there would be tanks in our capital at dawn the next day.”
The analogy with Ukraine today cannot be more striking. A democratic, independent country, invaded by a military giant with nuclear capability. What is Putin’s goal? Clearly, he has designs on recreating the old and tarnished USSR in a modern form.
In the past, Putin’s game plan was to use energy policy as a proxy for military force. He has used gas and oil as rewards and sanctions – not least towards Ukraine itself. Political assassination and cyber-attacking were also part of Putin’s evil armoury.
For Scots of my generation – born in the mid-1950s – this is the most worrying and delicate international situation since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
The West is right to provide (to varying degrees) military hardware to Ukraine and to apply the maximum possible economic sanctions on Russia. We can all play a role by donating to Ukrainian humanitarian charities and opening our towns and cities to men, women and children fleeing the country from the horrors of war.
• Fergus Ewing made a sensible point in his column this week – that the invasion of Ukraine brought home the fragility of relying on crucial energy supplies from countries such as Russia. He stressed the need to develop our own oil and gas.
I am in no doubt that Europe’s dependency on Russian gas has left it strategically vulnerable. Look at the evidence: Germany imports 50 per cent of its gas from Russia, and Italy 40 per cent. It is higher for Hungary and Poland, and all of Bulgaria’s gas supplies are from Russia.
What can be done? In the short term, if Russia turns the tap off tomorrow, there are emergency strategic gas storage reserves in Europe but that is no long-term answer. Increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports will help, and the UK has a well-developed track record in this area.
The bad news for Highland gas users is that disruption of Russian gas supply to Europe is bound to affect price – which is already soaring. And we have the double whammy in the north of cold winters and poor home insulation, which really adds to fuel poverty. The lesson from this crisis for energy policy is, of course, stick to our net zero targets for climate change, but we have to also reduce our own gas dependency as a matter of economic and national security.
• I will be watching Caley Thistle’s game against Partick Thistle on TV this evening in the comfort of my own living room for the second week in a row!
For a variety of reasons – do not mention my university essay deadlines – I have missed the last few home games.
I do not feel like a real fan unless the wind is blowing a gale across the Moray Firth into the stand!
