Latest updates: Damian Hinds, the security minister, says Russia is ‘a ruthless invading force’
- Ukraine Russia war: latest updates
The UK health secretary Sajid Javid has said the NHS must stop using energy supplied by the Russian-owned firm Gazprom, the PA news agency reports.
A senior government source told PA that Javid has been in talks with NHS England over ending the contracts, which are reported by Politico to have been worth 16 million in 2021.
Sajid has spoken with NHSE and been clear that trusts need to stop using Gazprom as a supplier. He has also requested a wider review of any Russian role in supply chains across the health service.
It’s clearly unsustainable for a humanitarian organisation like the NHS to have any commercial links whatsoever with Putin’s murderous regime.
It is time to sanction them all – and freeze their assets, including any property they own in the UK.
These properties should then be used to house any Ukrainian refugees, on a temporary basis, while they await permanent resettlement. Rather than languishing in hotel rooms – or worse, unsuitable barracks, we should be putting Putin’s cronies’ assets to good use.
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