Hague denounces ‘land grab’ as UK suspends arms deals with Moscow

Britain has suspended all arms exports to Russia amid fears there is a “grave danger” of military escalation in Ukraine.

The UK has also stopped all military co-operation with the federation, including the cancellation of a naval exercise, after Moscow pushed ahead with the annexation of Crimea, Foreign Secretary William Hague 
said.

MPs were told it will be “necessary to increase the pressure” on Moscow and the UK will argue for the strongest position and range of measures” on which agreement can be made at the European Council later this week.

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President Vladimir Putin has chosen international isolation by signing the annexation decree and Europe now faces the “most serious” test of security this century, MPs were told. Discussions are under way to expand the international observer mission of the Organisation for Security 
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Mr Hague said: “I pay tribute to the extraordinary restraint shown by the Ukrainian government, its military forces and its people in the face of immense provocation.”

He said Russia had “rebuffed all efforts” to find a solution ahead of the “illegal” referendum.

He added: “No amount of sham and perverse democratic process or skewed historical references can make up for the fact that this is an incursion into a sovereign state and a land grab of part of its territory with no respect for the law of that country or for international law.”