David Davis: Time for weakness is over as new Cold War looms

For too long Russia has stoked conflict around the world for its own short-term political gains. Now their actions have directly led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, 80 of them children, and one of the world’s leaders in the battle against Aids. In the light of such an atrocity, now is the time for the West to take a principled and firm stance.

The facts fly in the face of Russian denials – 298 men, women and children, including 10 British citizens, boarded the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. An hour later, a Russian-made missile tore the plane apart 33,000 feet above the rebel-held Donetsk region. We can only pray that the tragedy was over so quickly the passengers knew nothing of what happened.

The missile was fired from a BUK 9K37 medium range anti-aircraft system, a system first designed and built in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s. Such systems have been supplied to the Ukrainian separatists by Russia, together with the armoured vehicles, advisers, ammunition and reinforcements that have been pouring over the Russian border. The BUK is considered to be too technically complex for the separatists to use without assistance, and it is likely that Russian personnel provided training.

Just such a system was pictured near the crash site a few hours before the missile was fired. The separatists boasted about shooting a plane down immediately after the event on social media, stating: “We warned them not to fly in our skies.” And the missile was tracked by an American satellite, showing that it originated in rebel-held territory. The evidence is overwhelming.

The global community must be unequivocal in its response. President Putin may not have pulled the trigger, but through stoking the conflict and supplying the rebels, he loaded the gun and handed it to the men who did. The blame can be laid firmly at his door. He has recklessly destabilised an entire country to fulfil his own desires for regional dominance. Russia’s imperialist swagger has brought the region to the brink of full-scale war.

Barack Obama has been too weak with Russia up to this point. Russian actions in the Ukraine, their provocative military exercises, the annexation of Crimea – any of these instances could have sparked a war. There must be no more appeasement, no more soft diplomacy. As Winston Churchill once commented: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile – hoping it will eat him last.” It is time to show the Russian bear some stick.

And a lengthy international inquiry is not enough. America and Nato must demand that Russia identify and give up those responsible for this atrocity so that they can be put on trial for murder.

The men who operated the missile system, who caught Flight MH17 on their radar, and who fired the missile, killing 298 people – they must be brought to justice, along with their commanding officers. It must be a public and transparent display of justice. And it must be initiated before the murderers disappear and the evidence is destroyed.

If Russia refuses to co-operate in this, then the West must face the realisation that Russia is not willing to be a constructive member of the international community, and should act accordingly. The trade sanctions that are already in place are having a deleterious effect on the Russian economy. But they are not enough.

If Russia still refuses to co-operate, then the developed world must shut down its links with the world’s financial system. No Russian bank must be allowed to operate. Neither must we rule out severing trade links. It is the purchase by the West of Russia’s natural resources, oil and gas, that has allowed the Russian economy, and by extension its military, to expand back towards Cold War levels. Such a move would cost us dearly, but devastate Russia’s economy.

The United States and Europe have made every effort since the fall of the Soviet Union to bring Russia in from the cold. We have indulged them, like a kindly aunt with a spoiled nephew.

We need to remind Russia that the only way to prosper in this modern, inter-connected world is through peaceful co-operation.

A psychopathic foreign policy is, and must be shown to be, intolerable.

It is a tragedy that it has taken the deaths of 298 innocent people to wake us up. Russia is threatening to drag us 
all into another Cold War. Any weakness at this crucial time will only increase 
that risk.

David Davis is the Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden. This article first appeared on the ConservativeHome website.