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Mr. Martin Bell (Tatton): Will the Secretary of State clarify his thinking in the event that the talks in Rambouillet fail? Presumably, the tanks, the guns and the advance parties come home. How do we stay engaged? How do we deal with the threat to peace in the Balkans?
Mr. Robertson: That is a hypothetical situation--a serious one, but a hypothetical one, when the parties are at present sitting round the same tables in Rambouillet. I do not think that, for the moment, we should countenance the idea of failure, or allow them to think that they can leave the talks in the midst of failure. I told the House that the equipment and the limited numbers that we are sending can at any point be taken back. What we cannot do is put them into place if we have not made the contingency arrangements.
Mr. John Austin (Erith and Thamesmead): I welcome the prudent and sensible precautionary measures that the Secretary of State has taken. Can he confirm--and if not, will he investigate--reports that, even this week, villages around Podujeva and Llapashtica have come under heavy shelling from the Serbian forces, and that villages around Malisheva have been heavily machine gunned? What action will the Contact Group take if there are blatant breaches of the ceasefire while the Rambouillet talks are still in progress?
Mr. Robertson: The issues that my hon. Friend raises underline the gravity of the situation and the urgency of a successful outcome to the talks. They place a heavy responsibility on both sides in the talks to come to an agreement soon, to allow the political process to develop and new institutions to grow up that will stop the violence. Both sides, as it happened, condemned the grenade attacks that took place last week. The message that we have given to both sides is that the violence must stop. The talking at Rambouillet is where the future of Kosovo should be determined, not in exchanges of machine gun fire.
Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): The Government have a division-minus deployed indefinitely in Bosnia. They are about to prepare to deploy indefinitely a corps headquarters and a brigade to Kosovo. The right hon. Gentleman told me in a written answer last week that the central assumptions in the strategic defence review of one formation indefinitely deployed and one formation on only a six-months deployment was what drove the force structure that arose out of the strategic defence review. When will he review the force structure arising out of the strategic defence review?
Mr. Robertson: I am confident that the overall force structure that was determined by the strategic defence review allows us to make those deployments, if the decision is ultimately taken to make them.
Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax): My right hon. Friend stated that the Russians are on board for the negotiations. Can he spell out in detail the level of co-operation of the Russians? Would they be involved in deploying troops or other personnel if we went into Kosovo?
Mr. Robertson: My hon. Friend is taking me into territory that is not mine and on which it is not wise to speculate in any event. The Russians are fully engaged in the talks, are full members of the contact group and are fully part and parcel of the efforts that are being made through the talks, which are chaired by my right hon. Friend and the French Foreign Minister. I sincerely hope that the Russians will continue to be engaged because further outbreaks of violence or the further disintegration of Kosovo would not be in their interest or anyone else's.
Mr. William Cash (Stone): Will the Secretary of State comment on the fact that, in what happened in Iraq, we had no support, effectively, from our so-called partners in the European Union in matters of defence? Will he also comment on the basis on which he said that he expects--in other words, hopes--that there will be allied support, other than from the United States? Can he tell us what discussions have taken place with our European partners under the Western European Union, having regard to the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties? Is there any prospect of a full and united response by the EU, or is all the paperwork no more than rhetoric about the operations, with no practical action?
Mr. Robertson: I get a sense of deja vu every time the hon. Gentleman stands up to speak. I hear the obsession with Europe, which is seen always through the light of dismal failure. On the subject of being alone in Iraq, I draw his attention to the fact that the German Government--and the German Defence Minister, here in London--endorsed absolutely everything that we did in Iraq, saying that it was right and perfectly justified.
I also point out to the hon. Gentleman--in the hope that I might puncture this conspiracy theory, by which he seems always to be captivated--that the talks are chaired by the British Foreign Secretary and the French Foreign Minister. They are British-French talks that are designed to try to ensure that, in one part of our own continent, we concentrate our minds on how the fighting can stop and how we can build a sustainable peace.
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire):
Although these measures are clearly precautionary, should not an answer be given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn) in respect of the legality of proposed actions? These are matters of considerable importance. It cannot be the case that, if the circumstances arise in which there is a call for action, we will not act because of the problems that have been raised by my right hon. Friend. Is not my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in an odd logical position in respect of that issue?
Mr. Robertson:
I make it clear to my hon. Friend that British troops will never be deployed other than in accordance with international law.
Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East):
Will the Secretary of State accept my warmest congratulations on his statement? I endorse every word he said. He referred to the pictures in today's papers showing the funerals of the victims of the massacre. Does he agree that it is ironic that accounts of the massacres 57 years ago in western Russia and eastern Poland--of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, because of their religion--have also appeared today? Does he also agree that the action that he and the Government are taking sends a signal to the world community that we will never again tolerate such dreadful atrocities in Europe?
Mr. Robertson:
I will set aside the worry that takes me when the hon. Gentleman praises and congratulates me, and assume that his remarks are welcome. The whole thrust of the talks that are taking place between the parties at Rambouillet, and the fact that we have summoned them together and they have come, is a clear signal that we are not willing to accept the kind of atrocities that have taken place or the kind of humanitarian crisis that was threatened before the end of last year. We must urgently make sure that the parties agree on a political way forward and that the international community makes sure that they stick to it.
Mr. Robert N. Wareing (Liverpool, West Derby):
As the Contact Group called the Rambouillet summit, may I press my right hon. Friend on the participation of Russia? Is he convinced that Russia would support the sending of 30,000 troops to Kosovo? Even though we all sincerely hope that there will be a peaceful outcome as a result of the negotiations in Rambouillet, may I preach caution to him on the presence of 30,000 foreign troops in Kosovo? We know from Northern Ireland experience that progress toward peace often breaks down. If there are 30,000 troops in Kosovo, there could be a tremendous tragedy in that part of the world and British soldiers, among others, could die--and for what cause?
Mr. Robertson:
Russia is a full member of the Contact Group, and therefore a full participant in the talks and all the pre-discussion that took place. It is fully behind the need to move forward politically and to end the violence that was overtaking, and could easily again overtake, Kosovo.
I am confident that, although our forces have pressures on them that they have probably never had before, they have the spirit, commitment and dedication to take on the tasks that are being placed on them, and that could be placed on them if the decision were taken to deploy them in this theatre alongside our NATO allies. I have just spent four days in the Gulf meeting a large number of our forces who are far from home. They are involved in dedicated and courageous activity out there. I sense in them their absolute commitment to maintaining and contributing to international law and order. I have no doubt that, if they are required to do so, they will rise to the occasion as they usually do.
Mr. Andrew Tyrie (Chichester):
I understand that, although 2,000 monitors were committed to Kosovo as a
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