Richard Howitt (S&D). - Mr President, Mr Putin says that Ukraine may be on the verge of civil war, but the question only he can answer is whether it will be, not civil war, but war. Indeed in three ways the Russian President shows the same ‘maskirovkaʼ – masking of insignia – as his own soldiers.

If rebels had seized police stations, security services and government buildings in Chechnya, I wonder if he would have been so quick to defend their right to be there and call it a peaceful protest. If he is worried about minorities, how will he defend the rights of Tatars in Crimea, especially as the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday said that there are no widespread or systematic attacks against the ethnic Russian community in Ukraine? If he is so keen to cut off arms supplies to what he calls a region of conflict, why does he not do the same to Syria?

With others, I wish success to the four-way talks due tomorrow. Europe must signal a clear readiness for third-phase sanctions. And I say that the best way to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity, if it is to be given a chance, is to support successful and peaceful elections across a united country.